Laundry. A chore. The thing you do because if you don’t the pile grows into a monster seeking revenge for frequent drownings.
Children and laundry are always an interesting combination. However, I have discovered that homeschooling adds an element of surprise. Surprise to the innocent machine about to gorge itself upon dirty socks. Surprise to me, the innocent bystander feeding the machine.
Life is hurried, too many things to do, too little time. Plunging my hand deep into the machine’s mouth I retract it back in surprise. It bit me. This inanimate object, lacking teeth had actually bit me. Reason replaces the pain in my mind as I investigate. Hidden within an unsuspecting shirt is a pile of sharp pebbles. Frustration. They are everywhere. I’ll have to take everything out and start anew. Frustration.
Pebbles are encroaching upon my time. My hands clutch t-shirts, towels, socks as I search for stragglers. A large piece of rock finds its way into my hand. It sparkled. A memory is triggered.
Holding a hammer. Glinting sunlight. A large force moving downward.
The force of a hammer hitting rock. The stronger force of a daughter asking me to do it again. Hammer in hand, neighbors peering inquisitively, splitting rocks as if they were logs for a fireplace. A simple Nature Study in the front yard.
Crack. Pop. Laughter. Child’s giggles. Mystery revealed.
Hidden inside the solitary rock is a vein of purple fluorite. A deep purple color reflecting the sunlight as if calling to everyone, “Behold my beauty”. Tiny fingers encircle the wonder found within. No evidence exists on the exterior to proclaim its majesty. No evidence my eyes could see. A child saw it, she saw the beauty encased in the gray cocoon.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
2 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV)
The monster in the washing machine seems less angry. I hold the shirt close while mud stains and pebble fragments cling to it. Its small size represents a huge heart. A heart so huge that it knows the potential hidden in a rock. On the outside, I feel hard and gray like the rock. What if I saw myself as a child envisions? What if I saw myself as God envisions?
He knows my potential. He clothed me in grace and filled me with His Treasure. Why am I not letting it shine?
I place the clothes back into the machine more slowly. Each piece has a history, a tale to tell. Socks dirty from walking on fresh grass. T-shirts covered in chocolate ice-cream. Precious memories I should not let slip through my fingers. I’m being chipped away so the present will not become a lost memory. My Treasure is staring to glow a faint hue of Hope.
“You found my gem!” my daughter squeals in delight as I return the last piece of clothing.
“No, I have found my gem.” Her sweet scent of childhood embraces my senses. I hug her tightly. God is chipping away at me. He is chipping away my hurriedness, my impatience, my ungratefulness so that the world might gain a glimpse of His Treasure.
As you encounter difficulties in life remember it is merely God chipping away hardened layers. Watch the gray rubble fall as your Treasure is revealed for all to see.