A recent exchange here has given me lots of blogging material!
I guess if you’re always looking for crosses and ways to make yourself look all pitiful and put-upon, you can see, um, laundry as a “cross”,–
My first thought is that there are lots of different types of crosses and in this article I’m referring to the mundane, every-day type of stuff that everyone has to do in regular everyday life! Certainly there are some heavier crosses of severe illness and grief and I think we are called to help shoulder those burdens when we are able, but I am not referring to those here.
I do not think it is sinful or wrong to admit and acknowledge that there ARE crosses that exist in this life, that go with each station in life – including marriage and family life! I think that to acknowledge that is not good or bad, just realistic. I also do not think that it is wrong or sinful to ask for support or creative ideas on how to handle these things. Certainly in marriage and family life, women have been handling households for a long time – why re-invent the wheel? If there is a lady who has good advice on how to handle this type of stuff, why not seek her out and ask for her counsel? And in fact for the older ladies, we are commanded in Titus 2 to give direction to the younger women on how to do these things.
That said, I do agree with the blogger above – nobody likes a whiny cross carrier! and whining isn’t exactly a good Christian example, and certainly not the example set by Christ! But again acknowledging that difficulties and “crosses” exist isn’t necessarily “whining.”
but I’m pretty sure Christ, who was beaten, spat on, nailed to a cross to die, didn’t really have laundry in mind when He asked us to pick up our crosses and follow Him. And that was back in the day when laundry really was a bitch and a half
And see I think the omnipresent God, in the person of Jesus Christ, did have the little crosses like laundry in his thoughts. Christ died for our sins. He was the ultimate sacrifice. But in Catholic teaching, we are able to join our joys, sufferings, and sacrifices with Christ’s cross everyday in the little things we do and in the Christian way we live our lives.
Because then I’d be a candidate for sainthood. Maybe I could be Saint Marie of the Front-Loading Washing Machines. Ooh.
Kimberly Hahn, the wife of professor Scott Hahn, spoke once about the loving way her mother did things like laundry. When she ironed a piece of clothing, or folded a shirt or pair of pants, she would pray for the person who owned that article of clothing! I always thought that was sooo beautiful. It meant that Kim’s mom was basically in prayer the entire time she did her laundry- praying for her family while she served them! This is a perfect example of taking a little cross (as in task, difficulty, an activity done for someone else) and embracing it fully to until it becomes a blessing and a total self-giving sacrifice – a dying to oneself in a way that gives life to someone else – in this case in a spiritual way and a practical one too!
And who knows, maybe by embracing one of these little crosses and embracing it well, like laundry, one could become “Saint Marie of the Front-Loading Washing Machines!” We are all called to be saints!! Anyway we can get there is good!!
So in that sense I think that is totally what Christ had in mind!! That we take these little difficulties that are just part of life, our little crosses, and embrace them fully for the love and life of others, starting with our own families!
That said, here is one website that gives a perfect example of how taking one of the little jobs (laundry) and turning it into a ministry for the family! An enjoyable site all over too BTW!!
Please browse my Amazon sales and eBay items!