I’m sure you guys are probably sick of me talking about
laundry (I think I said something similar in my last post, when, again, I was
talking about laundry), but, believe it or not, laundry has taught me a couple
of lessons. It gives me a lot of time to
think…
Up until now, I have intentionally kept this blog very up-beat
and filled with happy stories of my adventures so far (at least I have tried
to, if I have failed at this, I am terribly sorry). However, as I was doing laundry today, I
realized that I chose VIDES for a couple of reasons:
1. It was a larger and
well established organization that had a home-base in the US (that was one of
her criteria for allowing me to do this – Love you mom!).
2. It allowed me to
go somewhere in Central America for 6 months – a lot of the other programs were
only for a couple of months or it required a year-long commitment.
3. It was Christian,
and more specifically, Catholic.
I realized early on in my planning of this volunteering
experience that I wanted to not just expand my horizon and volunteer, but I
wanted to strengthen my relationship with God.
And by omitting that part of my experience from this blog, as I was
doing, I was not telling you at least half of my story… so be forewarned, this
will be a deeper, more God-centered post.
And, so, we return to laundry, and the current lesson God is teaching me
by being in a place where I hand-wash my clothes.
I tend to regard myself as a rather simple and not
materialistic person. I don’t need a lot
of “things,” and I’m not one to spend a lot of money. However, being here has made me realize that
I put a lot of value in money (not more value that I place in family and friends,
ect. but a lot of value none-the-less).
I think that it is something that we fall prey to as Americans. Money is my security blanket, I am a poor
college student, I am planning on going to grad school, I need to be able to
pay for an apartment, food, school, all the things that a person needs… and
therefore, I place value in money, in having money saved for the future. I’m sure you are all wondering what this has
to do with washing clothing… Well, let
me explain, when I started washing my clothing, I was concerned that hand
washing the clothes and letting them dry outside would somehow ruin them,
therefore, requiring me to buy new clothes when I got home (as if I don’t have
enough), therefore, requiring me to spend money that I wouldn’t otherwise have
to spend. It’s not like I brought nice
clothes here… as a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure I didn’t spend more than $10
on any one article of clothing that I brought with me. Additionally, I like my clothes, and for some
reason, they have value to me… I don’t want them ruined.
While, no, I don’t need a lot of things and I don’t need
expensive things, I’m not high-maintenance… I do place unwarranted value in the
material things of this world. And I am
prone to worrying about the future. As Jesus
says in Matthew 6:25-34:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat [or drink], or about what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more
than clothing? Look at the birds in the
sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly
Father feeds them. Are not you more
important than they? Dan any of you by
worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his
splendor was clothed like one of them. If
God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the
oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little
faith? So do not worry and say, ‘What
are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to
drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All
these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly
father knows tha you need them all. But
seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you besides. Do not
worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will teak care for itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”
My lesson from laundry is this: I need to let go. I need not worry about my life, I need to
give my life to God – completely.
Because He knows what I need, and he knows the best way to provide it to
me. There is a song by a singer, Audrey
Assad (who I absolutely love and if you haven’t heard of her, you NEED to look
her up), called Everything is Yours,
in which the part of chorus goes “If everything is yours, I’m letting it
go. No, it was never mine to hold.” I am beginning to realize that I really need
to live this way. Is this scary? Are you
crazy, YES! Can I change overnight? Absolutely not! Do I know exactly where this realization is
going to leave me? No. But I do have another four months to figure
it out…
Who would have ever thought that laundry could be this deep? P.S.
There was a lot of laundry today…
Now, to end with a couple of fun stories:
We were without running water for 4 days this past week…
This meant that I went from Monday morning until Thursday morning without a
shower. Wednesday night, Thalia and I
decided another day without a shower was not a possibility (I brushed my hair
and I looked like I could have been one of the guys from Greece with my hear
completely slicked back). Therefore,
Wednesday night, we washed Thalia’s hair in the sink by pouring water from a
bucket over her head instead of using the faucet – no running water, remember?
(can you believe she has never washed her hair in the sink before? I am proud to say that I have had the pleasure
previously and if you haven’t ever done this, you are truly missing out!). Anyway, Thursday morning I was able to take a
full bucket shower (including washing my hair), and it was quite the
experience. Basically, I poured water
over my hair to get it all wet using a smaller water dish, and then shampooed
my hair, rinsed it out using the same pouring water method. It kinda was a lean over to the side and pour
water over my head without making the water hit my body as it was quite
cold. And then I conditioned my hair… I
considered skipping that step, but then realized that my hair was so tangled
after the shampoo, that I would not be able to get a brush through it. The whole experience, really wasn’t all that
bad. And if you have the inclination,
after you have decided that you like washing your hair in a sink, I would
highly recommend trying a full-on bucket shower.
Prayers and love for everyone at home!
No comments:
Post a Comment