Mondays. Laundry. Naps.

Mondays. This day is different for pastors. But not too different. We all have questions on the path we’ve taken. We all evaluate the labor of our hands. But where for most people, Mondays are the start of a work week … For me, it’s the look back at the weekend … a weekend that we planned out, sweated over, prayed for, and poured our heart into.

And for many pastors, this is the day we look at that letter of resignation we keep tucked away on our MacBook, we ponder that we are completely inadequate for the task before us and we wonder why we ever got into this profession. We could’ve had weekends to hike the mountains, to take the kids to the beach, or just sit on a boat, fish, read a book and drink hot chocolate. We could’ve been teachers, engineers, insurance salesmen. Oh yeah, it’s not a profession, it’s a calling. That’s why we do it.

I recognize it’s got to be by His power. And His power is sufficient … for in my weakness He strength is shown.

But still, there’s always Mondays.

For me, Mondays, in a nutshell, is a crash day. And one thing I often do on Mondays is laundry. A few general things I notice about laundry …

• Dirty laundry happens, to everyone. And the more active, the more doing laundry is necessary. And don’t wait too long to do it, for life gets stinky for you and those around you.
• We have less laundry now that we’re empty nesters. I’m thankful for less laundry, but I do miss the kid’s presence. And we only had one. How do large families stay ahead of the laundry monster?
• I produce a lot more laundry than my wife. Maybe it’s her sweetness and near perfection or maybe it’s my tendency to just attract the dirt and to play in the mud. Is this normal? Do boys always produce more laundry?
• Laundry is really a waiting game. Load washer, wait, empty, load dryer, wait, empty, fold. Repeat over and over. So it’s not an extremely difficult job, unless one’s a bit ADHD and gets fidgety in the wait. So turn on the TV and enjoy the wait.

Laundry is a task … and today, laundry was also a teacher.

There are times in life this twistedness happens. Maybe it’s the result of a bad decision. Maybe it’s getting Covid and that messes with everything. Maybe it’s our fault or it just happens … but life gets twisted.

I could share a lesson on how to depend on God’s strength, wisdom, and guidance to untangle our mess … but the better lesson is to spend a little time up front to prevent the entanglement in the first place.

• Keep your laundry separated. Don’t just throw the pile in there, piece by piece is the way to go. Life is less overwhelming if you see things in little pieces.
• Deal with one load at a time. Stop trying to multitask everything.
• Take a little effort to make sure loose cords and draw strings are not knotted or twisted. A stitch in time saves time mentality.
• Don’t over do the load. Keep things simple.

Bottom line, a little effort up front helps solve problems down the road. And with that mentality, you have more time for my other Monday activity. Taking a nap. Monday siestas.