Grateful for Lint

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
Colossians 4:2

How many of you really love doing the laundry? Ok, now I know there are some out there who find ironing relaxing, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I am talking about the chore of washing, drying, folding and putting it all away. A necessary, menial task that gets done but isn’t necessarily a means of joy and thankfulness or is it?

Our oldest daughter admitted to lamenting about having to do the laundry, watching her family walk around clothed (how dare they) and realizing as soon as she had finished the laundry she would have to start the “vicious” cycle of laundry again. I get it. I helped her with the laundry once. Doing laundry at her house is a big task – the laundry room is in the lowest part of their house, it’s in the sub-basement and the master bedroom is on the highest level of the house – four flights of stairs away from the laundry room. Makes me very thankful for my tiny, single story house.

Then one day as she once again cleaned the dryer’s lint trap, she slowed down enough to actually see the lint. She discovered she could see all her reasons for being thankful in that lint. If the lint was dark, navy blue she could tell she had washed her firefighter husband’s work clothes. If the lint was tinted a paler color like pink, the clothes for her beautiful daughters had been washed. With each colored ball of lint taken from the dryer that day, she could see a reason to be grateful for what God had given her. What a change in perspective!

In the scripture passage above, Paul is preparing to close his letter to the Christians in Colosse. This church was feeling the pressures of other religious philosophies and Paul was writing to remind them of the truth of Jesus Christ and to encourage them to stay the course. As he prepares to close the letter he tells them to devote themselves to prayer – meaning to spend time with God communicating with Him, to stay focused on Him. To be watchful – watchful for the false teachers who would be trying to lead them from the truth and freedom they had found in Jesus and to keep a proper perspective on what it means to be a Christ following human. To be thankful – thankful for everything.

Thankful for the menial tasks that need to be done. Thankful for the celebrations of life. Thankful for the struggles and storms we often encounter in this life. Thankful for the perspective changing, course correcting moments in life. The kinds of moments that turn a disliked chore into a moment of thankfulness.

What are you not looking forward to? Do you have a never ending pile of laundry? Are you facing a more significant challenge in life – a health issue, the loss of a loved one, finances that never seem to keep up? Whatever it is – devote yourself to prayer. Pour out your heart to the God who loves you and listen for His heart to speak to yours. Be watchful, on the lookout for perspective changing moments and be thankful always and for everything.

A Prayer
Father – help us to wade through the piles of stuff we face in this life. Help us to seek you first in everything situation by being devoted to spending time with you in prayer. Help us to be watchful not only for the things and people who would try distract us from Your truth, but for those moment in life that can change our perspective and turn our laments into songs of thankfulness and praise. Help us to be thankful regardless of the situations we find ourselves in – because we can count on You to keep Your promises to finish the good work you have started in us. In the name of Jesus, who loves us more than we can possibly know. – Amen.