TODAY there is lots of discussion as to which soap to use to keep your whites white. Years ago it wasn’t the soap as much as it was time, muscle and help. Growing up in a large family you are given jobs. One of the first jobs, of importance, that my sister Joyce and I did was the laundry. Joyce was 10 and I was 13! I imagine you are thinking to yourself; "big deal!" Well, it was a big deal in our household!
MY DAD had built sort of a lean-to behind the garage. Our laundry room had a dirt floor covered with a piece of linoleum. The washer would be old, but most of the time it worked. When it was broke, they called Crazy Johnnie to repair it; which is another story! One of my favorite washers had a wringer we turned by hand. Another one had a small spin dry hole which I hated. When it wasn’t working we would wash in the big tub next to the washer and use the scrub board. When we emptied either the washer or the wash tub we would take the drain hose outr, and lay it across the sidewalk, onto the grass. Ugly wash water would run out!
I SUPPOSE all of that was much better than pounding them on a rock in the lake, huh? However, the good part was we only washed clothes on Saturday mornings, which means we washed 8 twin size sheets, 4 standard bed sheets, enough towels that were hung double on 7 clothes line that were approximately 17ft long. We had a total of 14 clothes lines, at least that is how I remember it! We had 16 living there, so you can go ahead and do the math.
AFTER Daddy died, we moved, and my bother Lonnie bought Mom a new washer with a wringer, and eventually a "dryer!" Our prayers for Mom going onto the TV show, Queen for a Day, was totally squashed. Well, it didn’t matter anymore, anyway, because my new job was ironing! Ugh!!!
WHEN the sheets were dry we made the beds. I didn’t get Lonnie’s bed made once, and around 1:00 am he knocked on my bedroom door. I had to get up and make his bed! A job isn’t done until it is done! I don’t remember who folded the towels but I do know they got used again, because we would wash the same towels eery weekend. Joyce and I talk and laugh about that time in our lives. We agree, it was hard, but when our job was done we were done until next Saturday. Life is like that, isn’t it!
MY MOTHER had a lot on her plate; raising and caring for her family, while working outside of the home. But she did it! Her children helped! And believed me, we all have praised her and call her blessed! I don’t know how it was with the older kids but as one of the younger ones, I didn’t want to find out what would happen if I didn’t do it. I may have argued a lot, but I did try hard to stay out of trouble. "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord; though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." Isaiah 1:18 Using soap to whiten our clothes is the same as our being obedient to the Lord, so we will appear white to Him. Not dingy gray or bright red , but white; clean, pure and soft to the touch.
"WOE TO YOU scribes and Pharisees; hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Matthew 23:27-28 Jesus talks about the hypocrites being as white washed tombs. Outwardly they appear beautiful and righteous but on the inside they were dead!
BEFORE Christ came into our lives we were like white washed tombs; looking good on the outside but dead on the inside. Having to do the washing is pretty much the same idea. Isaiah tells us to wash ourselves, make ourselves clean by removing the evil from our lives. When we belong to Jesus, He sets us free; we come alive! By Jane Ann Crenshaw (1/19/08) 8/23/14
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment