May
5
2016
Dryer Lint
Posted in Repentance 2 Comments
I do laundry almost every day.
I really enjoy it.
There is something satisfying about taking freshly laundered clothes out of the washer.
There is something about the smell of clothes when they come out of the dryer.
Growing up, my mother never used the clothes dryer.
Everything was hung out on the clothesline.
There are those that love to sleep in a barn loft on a bed of hay.
I loved to sleep on sun-kissed sheets just taken in from the line.
Doing laundry was quite a production in my growing up years.
We had to gather the clothes from the upstairs hamper.
We had to place all of the dirty clothes in a basket.
We had to carry the basket down two flights of stairs to the basement.
Then it was time to come upstairs while the first load was in the washing machine.
We went back downstairs when the cycle was complete.
We gathered the wet clothes into the basket and added another load to the washer.
Then the wet clothes were carried upstairs to the backyard to hang on the line to dry.
All the clothes were hanging there for anyone to see.
Whatever we wore that week, along with socks that may have had a hole in them was visible.
Underwear was always hung closest to the house.
There was a road behind our house so my mother hung more private things out of view.
When I was tall enough, it was my job to take the clothes off the line.
I had to semi-fold them in the basket rather than throw them in any which way.
I could smell the sunshine.
White sheets flapped in the breeze and were bleached by the sun.
As I got older, hanging clothes outside became a thing of the past.
Everyone used the clothes dryer for convenience.
If certain clothes were likely to shrink, they were hung outside on the line.
An end of an era was upon us.
Today, most of us would not know what to do without our clothes dryers.
However, I still hang many things in my laundry room each day.
My husband put a high wire shelf in an alcove on which I can hang clothes.
I bought a wheeled rack that is permanently in my laundry room.
On that rack, I always hang pants and jeans.
Since all of us are tall in our family, we never wanted those things to shrink.
If you walked into my laundry room on any given day you would inevitably see hanging clothes.
Unfortunately, nothing is sun kissed and nothing flaps in the breeze.
After each load of laundry is finished its drying cycle, the buzzer goes off to remind me.
I go into the laundry room to gather the warm clothes out of the dryer.
The hanging things will have to wait until they dry the next day and can be put away.
One thing I always do after each load is remove the lint trap and clean it.
Since lint is flammable, it is important to clean the lint trap every time.
I am always amazed at the amount of lint a load of towels can produce.
Some people do not like to gather the lint off the screen.
I find it fascinating.
I start at the top end and roll my finger down in such a way that the lint peels right off.
That fuzzy sheet of lint is a mix of colors accumulated from whatever was just in the dryer.
Often people forget that there is an outside dryer vent that needs to be cleaned as well.
I can see pieces of lint fall down onto the mulch below.
That lint often ends up in a bird’s nest.
I have seen pieces of fuzzy lint sticking out of various birdhouses around my yard.
There is a cycle of lint that intrigues me.
The lint from our clothes attaches to the dryer vent and will eventually line a bird’s nest.
A bird may choose to use the lint for their nest but lint is really something to be discarded.
Lint is the textile fibers and other materials that is usually found on and around clothing.
Lint was used as a form of wound treatment for cuts and sores as early as 1500 BC.
Lint, known as charpie, was used for wound care as recently as the American Civil War.
Forensic scientists examine lint when trying to solve a crime investigation.
The lint on a person’s clothing contains material transferred from various places.
The forensic examiner collects samples to determine the person’s movements and activities.
Lint is useful to them since it is accumulated over time.
Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay in his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. (Matthew 10:11-14)
Shake the dust off your feet.
Shake off the lint.
Shake off whatever residue the world leaves on you.
The world’s residue is highly flammable.
God has given us a lint trap, a screen of sorts, to collect the worldly lint we accumulate.
God’s Word is the screen that traps the world’s lint.
Studying God’s Word allows us to see the world’s lint for what it really is.
As we draw nearer to God in faith, we want no part of the world’s residue collecting on us.
As I collected the lint from the lint screen, I marveled at how much lint is really on our clothes.
We don’t see the lint until the heat of the dryer jostles it from our clothes.
When we remove the lint screen, we are amazed at the amount of lint that was really there.
The lint was there all along; it just blended in, seemingly invisible.
Worldly lint accumulates on us.
We must take the time to shake the world’s lint off our feet.
Each day we start again, with a clean lint screen.
At the end of the day, we must remove any lint of the world that God’s Word makes obvious.
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22, 23)
Shake the world’s lint off your feet.
Begin again.
Today is a new day.
Because of His great love we are not consumed.
I really like this! It reminds me of washing clothes when I was growing up–no dryer. It was an all day affair. Mom would hang the clothes to dry, then after a few hours, reverse them so they dried more evenly. Seemed like a lot of work to me, so when I got married I asked for a dryer and was very glad to have it, especially when kids came along. But I do remember the wonderful smell of clean clothes and bedding. Mom ironed everything–even sheets and Dad’s underwear! What do we do with all the time we save these days? I like your comparison of physical lint and spiritual lint. We surely need to keep close to God to keep the lint of the world’s sin from sticking to us.
Sue,
I was actually taking clothes out of the dryer when I thought about that comparison.
We do need to shake the world’s lint off of our clothes and ourselves each day. God’s Word makes us aware of that lint and God’s grace assures us of a clean lint screen each day. How blessed we are.
Gina