“Happy Anniversary,” I said to myself looking at the mound of wet clothes in the dryer. After thirty years, I assumed Matt knew how to put the filter in properly. It appears he did not. The dryer door bounced against the filter and stayed open. Thus, my fat jeans were a sopping mess and I needed them to go out in public. Anyone who tells you working your way through party size bags of Cheetos, dill pickle chips, and pretzels will not make a crisis smoother is lying. They all made me feel better about Matt losing his job; however, not fitting into my regular jeans brought on my current distress.
Perhaps the man was a little distracted. He’d just lost a job he held for over thirty-three years and planned to retire in. Since then, odd events began occurring in the house like finding the cardboard recycling in the fridge or discovering the garbage he’d taken out to the curb still in the garage.
He wasn’t the only one. An hour later when I went to put the next load of laundry in the dryer I noticed fine blue speckles on the sheets, my bras, towels etc. I’d left a pen in a pocket (something I haven’t done since year one). The pen broke during the wash cycle and the ink refill lodged in one of the holes (ink side out). As the laundry turned in the drum the tip of the refill dispersed its fine decoration throughout the entire load. Aagh!
Life is full of events which knock your world off centre and it’s easy to slip into blaming one another for the small things - the things you can control. We have to force ourselves to encourage one another and to remember the Lord encourages us.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4 ESV)
I think Matt got it right. Later in the day I came home to find a beautiful anniversary gift waiting for me.
P.S. Matt has found employment! The person showing him the ropes - age 22.