This past Saturday morning a friend stopped by to pick up two of my devotionals and caught me putting away my ironing board. Yes, I told her, I do the ironing here at home, as well as vacuuming and occasionally windows. Carol does the other more important things around the house, but not ironing.
I am not ashamed to admit I enjoy making shirts and pants look good, and it began when I went away to college. As I was the youngest and ready to leave home, Mom helped me pack a suitcase and Dad arranged for a ride to get me to Concordia College in St. Paul. One of the things Mom did the day before my departure was teach me how to iron clothing. “You’ll need to know this,” she said, as she imparted the basics of using an ironing board.
Ironing was not only helpful for my minimal wardrobe, it also became a source of spending money. Seven shirts took about an hour, so I charged fifteen cents a shirt (or seven for a dollar. Dad often said a dollar an hour was good money). And the fabrics back then were much harder to work with than they are today. College men those days wore dress shirts to class, so word soon got out there was a fellow in Walther Hall who knew how to use an ironing board on Saturday mornings.
Surprisingly, I learned to enjoy it. Ironing wasn’t hard work, and people were usually happy that I could make their shirts and pants look reasonably nice.
Furthermore, the principles behind taking out wrinkles seemed to fit well with my growing concept of forgiveness. We regularly come to God with our dirty clothing, and He cleans it for us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. If we ask Him, the Holy Spirit helps us iron out the wrinkles of life so we can live more like Jesus, and maybe not mess things up so much up the next time. Of course, being sinful people, we’ll always have personal laundry to do this side of heaven.
A stretch of a metaphor? Perhaps, but one that comes to mind without fail every time I set up the board and plug in the iron. But don’t misunderstand me. I am not looking for business like I was back in the days when three to four dollars a week was respectable spending money for a college boy just off the farm.
“Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7)
Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com
No comments:
Post a Comment