CLOTHES LINES OF OUR LIVES

                                                                     By

                                                      Janet Baird Weisiger

               

                                             “To everything there is a season,

                                               A time for every purpose under heaven.”

                                                                             Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV

            I awake to a flawless spring day.  Sun streaming through the window announces the dawning of the first warm day of spring.  A perfect day to hang the bed sheets on the line.

            Several hours later I stand amidst my clothes tree, fastening each sheet firmly onto the plastic lines with my wooden clothespins.  The fresh cool breeze snaps each pillowcase to attention.  I smile as I anticipate crawling into a freshly made bed tonight and breathing in the sweet perfume of air-dried bed linens.

            As I pull each item from my laundry basket and fill up the lines, I think back on years of hanging up clothes.  Clotheslines can tell stories, histories of families as we march through the many seasons of our lives.

            As a newly wed, my clothesline held crisp newly purchased sheets of various prints and colors.  As I handled these new possessions I recalled the person who gave me that particular bridal shower gift.

            Then the next years, I hung rows of cloth diapers with the assurance that the sun would brighten and bleach the muslin to pure cleanliness.  And prior to the diaper hanging, would be the months of drying the cotton maternity clothes, most of which were hand me downs or hand sewn myself.

            Baby clothes, toddler clothes would dance in the breeze, their tiny sizes signifying our busy active household.  Just looking at those clothes I could hear the giggles, the awesome chattering of our little ones as they discovered their new wonderful world.

            Soon, the soccer uniforms appeared as I struggled to launder the grime and dirt from their brightly colored outfits.  Interspersed, flapped middle school football jerseys, wrestling shorts, and cheerleading tops and skirts. 

            Then one day my mother came to live with us and I stopped in astonishment to realize the cross generational assortment of laundry.  Our children were now married with babies of their own.  A newborn’s ‘onesie’ next to grandma’s drawers, interspersed with athletic socks and jeans.  Four generations now pulled and tugged in the wind.

            At that moment I smiled, praising God for His gifts.  That even in the midst of ordinary household chores, including one that has been repeated for generations, God blesses me.  What precious gifts! 

            In each season of life, He is present, guiding and directing as we constantly change and grow and age.  The simple flapping of clean clothes on a spring day signifies another year in my span of life.  Each piece of clothing and laundry tells me God cares, God loves, God gives and God entrusts my family to me.

            May I always keep focused on His plan for my life so that I may always serve Him.