Laundry And Sacrifices

Laundry. Specifically, putting away clean laundry is a task I struggle to complete every week. I prefer all of our clean laundry to be in our closet where it belongs, but for some reason, this is a job that I don’t like doing. It takes me maybe 10 minutes unless I have let it pile up over two weeks (see photo below).

I do a decent job of getting it all washed timely, although don’t ask Cody because he will tell you that the one clothing item or uniform he needed was never washed…maybe because he never put it in the laundry room… I am better at it than I used to be, but I still usually wait until the clean clothes are piled up and overflowing the baskets before bringing it upstairs and putting it away.

This has always been hard for me, so for Lent, a couple of years ago, I decided that I would not only put my laundry away promptly but ALSO put Lance’s laundry away. In almost 20 years of marriage, I had rarely put his laundry away for him, even after I started staying home full-time. I didn’t tell him what I was doing for Lent and just started putting both of our clean laundry away each week.

When I started, I didn’t think that it would be a big deal. I was just putting my husband’s laundry away for him. I soon realized that this was a small sacrifice I could make out of love for him. Small sacrifices lead to more small sacrifices for those we love, such as washing and making a bed for someone who is supposed to do it on their own, making a favorite meal for someone even if you don’t like it (I don’t really care for spaghetti but everyone else in our home loves it), buying your kids favorite snacks for them to take to school, etc.

There are so many things we can quietly do for our families as well as others outside of our homes. What feels like a sacrifice for you won’t be the same as me and it shouldn’t be! I believe it is good for us to intentionally love others in this way. Anyway, I wanted to share my thoughts this morning before I tackle the three overflowing baskets of Lance and I’s clean laundry.