Laundry and Paul and My Way of Thinking

Peter said he wrote his second epistle to stir up the people's minds... to remind them to think well. He wanted their thoughts to be pure. He wanted them to think clearly. He used the word eilikrinēs which literally means something judged by the sunlight.

My new hobby these days is to hang out my laundry. I have two drying wracks. One hangs above my bath tub. You lower each little bar by releasing a cord, hang your clothes, and then pull down the cord with a long hook, sending your clothes to the ceiling.

I also have a wrack that folds out to sit on the balcony in the sun. This is one of my favorite things to do. It's very relaxing for me. I do have to confess that I have a dryer - which I'm thankful for on cold, rainy days. I do put my laundry in it even after it's dry to soften it and get off the lint. But, the actual hanging of the clothes outside, I love it. I love the slowness of it. I love the community of it (Hello, world - thanks for showing me you're skivvies, here's mine.) I love the brightness of the whites reflecting my eyes so fiercely that I have to squint.

And here is the true test of stains. It might seem "gone" inside, but held up to the light - there I can see the rings of the remnant.

But, here I find pleasure, too. That the sun does two things: it show the stain. And it removes it. My grandmother's lace? All the blogs say to clean it lay it out in the sun. That's the purest form of bleaching. Anyone who has been forced to hang your favorite ocean blue shirt out to dry knows that in about two months she will own a favorite sky blue shirt without spending a dime.

And it happens with our thoughts, too... that when we examine our thoughts in the Light of the Gospel of Truth - in the Light of God, we see our stains. We see the pride, the anger, the hidden resentment. And there we also find purification.