It’s Not an Emergency

But it’s an EMERGENCY!!!

“Emergencies”, they are all around us. I am running late…I must get to…! We are all out of…! We need a date night…now! You need what for school tomorrow (at 9:00 pm!) The dog is out of food…again? Emergencies, right? Or are they?

Our latest emergency involved our washing machine. Picture this…our daughter is leaving for college in three days.  Her favorite clothes are stuck in the machine, and it is LOCKED!  We are taking her to school…and visiting friends and family while there and on the way home.  We NEED clean laundry.  And, our son starts pre-K the day after we get home!  What is he going to wear?  What are we going to do?

Well, we solved the immediate problems…learned how to open the machine, got my daughters, now stinking clothes (from sitting in water) out of the machine, and found a kind friend who would let us use her machine during a final gathering with friends before our daughter left for school.  My parents washed my son’s clothes while we were visiting them.  He didn’t have to go to school in mismatched and old clothes. Immediate need solved.

We are home now, and the laundry piles are growing…seemingly all by themselves.  We tried Googling the issue and fixing it ourselves, but that didn’t work.  Now…onto Craig’s list…my husband is looking for the best service for the best price…we post our add and “crickets”. No response. I began to panic!  But, you don’t understand, this is an emergency!! I have to be able to wash laundry!! Do you see those piles?

I was quickly convicted. How is this really an emergency.  We have more clothes.  Lots of them.  We have running water and soap. Remember hand washing? And, we live near several laundry mats. I just don’t want to go to one.

Aha! There is the real issue. Have I really turned this into an emergency, when really I am just trying to avoid something unfamiliar and more laborious? Ouch.

This morning you will find me somewhere amazing…I can wash all my laundry at the same time!!! I can dry it at the same time too!!! Did you even know something like this existed?? And, while talking to my friend on the phone in the parking lot about God’s faithfulness and provision, a stranger heard me and put her thumbs up.  She knows…God is faithful!

Yes, this is unfamiliar to me.  No, I am not looking forward to taking loads and loads of laundry in from the car.  Yes, it kinda grosses me out that the machines are likely pretty dirty…but today, I am embracing the unfamiliar, ignoring the machines, and calling lugging mounds of CLEAN laundry in the house FREE exercise.

I am learning that if I look up from my “emergencies”, I will often see God’s precious provision in ways I have never considered. It won’t always look like appliances that work, a health family and enough money in the bank. Sometimes it will look like a laundry mat, and just enough quarters in your pocket to finish all your loads.

Blessings!