Dirty Laundry

If I could change any room in my house it would be the laundry room. It's not that I think the space is too small or lacking anything. I just don't like the location of it. When the previous owners designed the house we now live in they placed the laundry room right between the kitchen and our side garage.

Although we have a beautiful front porch, everyone seems to enter our home through the side garage door which leads straight into my laundry room. This absolutely drives me bananas! My foyer is always clean with everything in just the right spot. On the other hand, my laundry room always seems to look like a tornado just ripped through it.

My children throw their shoes, backpacks, lunchboxes and toys on the floor. My husband is forever leaving his handyman tools on my folding table and dirty laundry is piled up everywhere. It's one thing if my family sees the mess but for heaven's sake I don't want everyone else to see it!

Several months ago I purchased two beautiful wicker laundry hampers with the ivory clothe lining to spruce up my laundry room. I thought this would be a decorative way to hide my dirty laundry. The only problem is that no matter how hard I try there is always more laundry then space in my pretty wicker hampers. Dirty socks, shirts, shorts and yes... even underwear are always oozing out of the top of the hampers. My family has mastered dirtying clothes faster than I can wash, dry, fold and put clean clothes away.

I have repeatedly asked my husband and our boys to please bring guests through the front door. For some reason, my request has fallen on deaf ears because no one seems to listen. On top of that, nobody seems to be remotely bothered by the fact that their friends and our neighbors can see our dirty stuff! What is wrong with these guys!!!

I think that my dirty laundry is sort of like my dirty sins. I don't want anyone to see them. I'd rather hide them in pretty containers or redirect others to keep them at a distance so they have no idea my dirty sins exist. Maybe if I do good deeds and acts of service when others are looking, they may think I'm practically free from sin but that's not what scripture says.

Isaiah 64: 6 says "All of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

I may be able to hide my "dirty laundry" from others but I certainly can't hide it from God. He sees everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly. There is good news though. Actually, it's great news! If I confess my sins (expose my dirty laundry), God is faithful and just to forgive my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

I don't know about you but I don't want to have unconfessed sin in my life. I don't want anything to get in the way of my relationship with the Lord. Of course, he already knows about my sins but if I don't share my weaknesses with him then I won't be able to ask for his help in overcoming them.

If my family didn't bring their dirty laundry to me, I wouldn't be able to wash, dry, fold and provide them with clean clothes to wear. Often times I complain when more clothes end up in the hamper but thank goodness God doesn't respond that way to me. He doesn't grumble and complain. He's always ready and willing to replace my filthy rags with clean ones.

I still have those pretty hampers in my laundry room along with my children's toys, backpacks, lunchboxes, shoes and of course, my husbands tools. And yes, my family still has friends and neighbors enter our home through that side garage door but it really doesn't matter anymore. I'm not into hiding my dirty laundry these days. I think keeping it exposed has lots of advantages. What do you think?