I have a working clothes dryer today. I’ve been without one for two years now when the aging one I had been using finally gave up the ghost. The particular washer and dryer I had were a Scandinavian brand and the washing machine plugged into the dryer, not into a normal outlet in the wall. I discovered there was no one around here who could fix it and replacing the dryer was cost prohibitive.
So, I just did without. I bought a clothesline, made sure I only did laundry on sunny days, and hung things outside.
About a month ago, we had an estate sale to clean out the items left in my mother’s house after her death and in preparation for renting or selling the house. I had purchased for them a washer and dryer about six years ago when their then 20 year old ones finally breathed their last, so I decided to solve my laundry problems by bringing that set to the parsonage. Then I discovered more intricacies of laundry plumbing: the outlet in the wall was four pronged; the plug on the dryer was three pronged.
I know nothing about electrical wiring. Nothing. I may be able to parse a Greek verb, but do not ask me to deal with wiring. So, the machine sat there, proudly unused, until I finally asked a retired electrician if he could solve my problem. He tried to explain the ease of the resolution to me, but I think my blank stare convinced him of the uselessness of his words and he came over today and exchanged the cord for the proper one.
My outdoor clothesline shall remain in use. I’ve been amazed at how low my utility bills have been because of the lack of a dryer. I heard recently that there is no such thing as an energy efficient dryer. They are just electric hogs. So I hope to use it rarely, but at least it will be there when absolutely necessary.
However, and there is always something to learn from life’s events, I have learned now over these two years to appreciate the sensual delight of sleeping on sheets that have been freshly washed and sunshine dried. They are a slightly less smooth to the touch perhaps, but smell heavenly, more than compensating.
Yes, they smell heavenly. No artificial perfumes or freshening agents. Just the power of a ball of energy, 93 million miles away to imbue them with real fragrance, in many ways, the fragrance of God. God, creator of heaven and earth, and redeemer of all that lives and breathes and has life, seems so much more real in my nighttime prayers on those sun-kissed sheets.
I’m very appreciative of the conveniences of modernity. But every once in a while, we’re better off without them. Maybe more than every once in a while.
So, for this day, here is my prayer, “Gracious and Holy God, I thank You for sunshine and aromas that remind me of Your beautiful creation. Mold me and teach me so that I may offer the aroma of Christ to all I meet.”
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