Bright, sunny morning, sweat dripping down her neck...
"It's a PERFECT day to do laundry", she exclaims with dull excitement!
So after the generator is turned on, she holds her breath and scoops all the mildew-laden clothes into the machine with haste.
After the faux earthquake in the house caused by the spin cycle, she declares "Recess!" to the homeschooling children, goes out to turn off the generator, and hangs up all the laundry in the bright, hot, damp sun.
After lunch, she hears a rumble in the distance... after a hidden sigh, she peeks reluctantly out the window at the sky. Sure enough, dark gray clouds rolling in. As it begins to sprinkle, and then pour, she darts out onto the porch to see if any of the clothes are dry yet. Nope. And on rainy days, clothes just will not dry. In fact, if they have dried completely before it rains, as soon as it rains, if they are still hanging up outside, they are guaranteed to be damp again for the rest of the day. Aw, nuts!---
I kid you not, this has happened several times, both during bush orientation, and since we moved here. I've had successful laundry days. But I'm close to warning my co-workers, "I'm doing laundry this morning, so it's going to rain later!"
After a brief nap in the afternoon, I sat with my reheated (on the stove) cup of coffee and my Beth Moore Bible study ("Esther"), and listened to the pouring tropical rain, and the children and teenagers outside bathing from the overflow of our water tank and the waterfalls from the roof corners. I thought about how incredibly thankful they are for the rain. So are we! It's the only source of drinking water and freshwater available here. Their community water tanks run dry if it goes 2-3 weeks with no rain. The rain brings opportunity to become clean and hydrated. Healthy. And I daresay, happy, for the people here especially! Oh and lest I forget, it also makes it cooler. We're talking mid-80's instead of mid-90's. Awesome.
You know, I don't really like hanging up our clothes for others to see. I'm a more private, reserved individual. But if I don't, mold will grow on them. The stink will remain. Big fuzzy brown spiders and centipedes will find soft new hiding places. But simply letting go of my pride and putting up each piece to dry in the musky, fishy, damp, tropical fresh air provides health, happiness, and cleanness.
I still struggle with a lot of pride. Moving doesn't change any of that. If any of you dream about "if only I could just move to a remote island in the tropics, I could escape so many of these sin issues that I encounter daily with myself, my family, my friends, my work, my culture, the media, etc..." ... well I'm here to tell you, NO!! Don't deceive yourself. The human heart does not change based on earthly conditions. No, it is the Lord Jesus Christ who can change the human heart. He does not force this change, He offers it to us.
As I offer more of myself to Him, the more He is showing me that He wants me to sweep every corner of the house (my heart) and allow Him to get rid of the ugliness and filth in myself and replace it with His perfect goodness and beauty. He wants me to wash and hang up every piece of laundry and allow Him to transform me more and more into His image- joyful, pure of heart, and set apart unto Him.
Let's invite Him into each moment of our lives, to wash us and cleanse us with the pure water of His Word, as we read in Ephesians. To let His 'rain' fall on us and purify us. Not for our own glory, but for His.
