Learning to Love
I never thought that a pile of dirty clothes could teach me how to love. I want to share this story with you of how God taught me to love unconditionally and how to cherish the simple life lessons only He can teach us.
I remember the Saturday morning very vividly. My husband and I were young and ambitious with three small children. However, the everyday demands of both working a full time job and being full time parents, at times could seem a bit overwhelming.
Just the thought of a little extra sleep on a Saturday morning felt so right. However, on that Saturday morning the nagging list of household duties and hearing children up moving around the house joisted me up and out of bed. With bed hair and sleep in my eyes I stumbled my way to the kitchen to whip up some breakfast.
Just to get a jump on the day and chisel down the chore list, while the kids were eating I made my way to the infamous dirty clothes hamper. Much to my surprise it was heaping over the top with dirty, stinky clothes from the weeks activities. I hated to do wash! Especially on my day off! But, who had time to do laundry during the week?
Between getting up early each day to make sure that everyone was dressed, lunches packed, tee ball practice, soccer games, dance lessons homework, bathing and getting everyone tucked into bed. I would drag myself to bed only to get ready to start it all over again the next day! I’m sure many of you can relate with this organized chaos.
Saturday became the dreaded day to tackle laundry but this day the hamper looked extra full. I pulled out all the clothes and dumped them in the middle of the floor and began to sort them. As I sat on the floor in a pile of clothes that smelled like a stinky wet dog. I felt overwhelmed with life and all of its responsibilities. Big tears welled up in my eyes and I began to cry.
I convinced myself that life was so hard and I began to have a full blown “pity party.” I began to ask myself, “Why do I have to wash all these clothes?” “It’s just not fair! I’m tired and I don’t feel like it!" About the time that I asked that question, I heard this soft voice (which I know was the voice of the Lord) say to me in such a kind beautiful way. “I gave you the beautiful family you asked me for.”
I knew then that it was God speaking to me in a way that I had never heard before. As I looked down through my tear filled eyes, I picked up those little dirty socks and the small pair of jeans that were tattered with grass stains, the little dress that had jelly down the front and my husbands work shirt and I knew at that moment that these dirty clothes represented much more than I was seeing with my natural eyes. These dirty clothes represented the precious gifts that God had given me in my family.
My greatest desire had always been that God would bless me with a beautiful family. He had answered my prayers and I had taken this beautiful gift for granted. That day I realized the meaning of true love. It is loving someone so much that you are willing to inconvenience yourself and serve them unconditionally without expecting anything in return.
From that day on I never looked at doing my families wash as a negative, but I used it as an opportunity to thank God for all the blessings he had given me. From that day on I was changed. I looked at doing wash with a very new and different perspective.
I utilized each time I washed my families clothes as another opportunity to pray for them and allow the joy of serving them to flood my heart. For me, wash day has a whole new meaning! It’s all in how you choose to look at it. Those stinky clothes now represent my blessings!
Five Ways to let love change your Perspective:
Make a list of your blessings and look at throughout the day.
Start thanking God for the things you have, not complaining about the things you don’t have.
Look for opportunities to love and serve your family. When you love to serve them they will in turn love to serve you. Serving gets your eyes off of yourself and puts it on those things that are most important.
Enjoy each day and treat it as a gift from God. Don’t waste days of your life complaining or in strife. Life is too short!
When chaotic thoughts come.....discipline yourself to think on good positive things that bring you joy and peace.
