Tuesday With Teri

          I was attempting to be more organized with our laundry.  My husband appeared to be resistant to my efforts.  “How could he get this so wrong” I thought to myself.  I had placed two laundry baskets in the floor of our closet, one for whites, the other for darks.   Their designation was obvious as they were already somewhat full with white and darks respectively.  I stood over the two laundry baskets , my mouth hanging open in astonishment.   There, atop the whites basket was a wad of my dear husbands dark shirts and jeans….and, no surprise, his whites were laid across the darks basket.

          I turned to him with needless impatience, “Seriously, how hard is it to put your darks in the darks and whites in the whites?”  I said.  My tone reflected my frustration with his lack of compliance with my laundry system.  At first his only respose was that cute little puppy dog tilt of the head as if to ask “What are you talking about?”  Then he realized the source of my snippiness and simply grinned.  “You need to understand the process for how they got there” .  He picked up a tee shirt he had just taken off, rolled it in a ball and tossed across the room and into the closet where it landed randomly between both baskets.

          Ahhhhhaaaa. So the problem was that he did not take the time to go near the baskets and careful place his laundry in the correct place.  His method of tossing his dirty laundry across the room may have saved him a few steps, but it resulted in dirty laundry chaos in the floor of our closet.  If he would only take the time to get closer to the baskets he could tell there was a system and follow my laundry plan.  His distance kept him from the needed perspective to achieve laundry system compliance.  It was not the placement of items in the baskets that was the issue, the problem was the process that got them there.

          I realize I cannot fault my husband for his lack of dirty laundry efficiency for two reasons; first, I have a tendency to be MUCH less organized than him in most things so I really don’t have room to talk.  Secondly; when we operate from a distance we are all prone to missing the mark.

          A dear feind of mine recently returned from a Community Bible Study leadership conference.  She was so excited by all she learned and saw while away she was overwhelmed in trying to share.  In Christian circles we call this a “mountain top” experience.  Her spirit had been revived and her desire to know God more was at an all time high.  Her enthusiasm was infectious.  If found myself reflecting on my own relative lack of enthusiasm.  I used to hunger for the Word of God, now at times I struggle to be consistently in the Word.  Before, I could not read enough and no matter how often I read a passage over the years,  each time it was new and applicable to  life. 

         Reading God’s Word consistently is how we draw close to Him.  When I fail to stay in His word I soon find that like my husband’s laundry toss, I too miss the mark.  God has a plan, a system.  Sometimes I follow close and can see with ease His direction for my life.  Sometimes I stay distant from Him.  Instead of intentionally, obediently following Him, I instead toss my efforts to please Him aimlessly.  The end result…I miss the plan, create chaos, miss His intended blessing.

          If I am going to hold my husband to a standard of taking the time to get close enough to the laundry baskets so he can follow the system, I must then hold myself accountable.  I will get closer to God so I can follow His plan for me. 

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 63:8…I like How the KJ version puts it…

”My soul followeth hard after thee;

Thy right hand upholdeth me.”

This week I pray I find myself following hard after my God and seeking to know Him even more.