I do two loads of laundry per week. Always. One for anything that's not dark, and one for everything else. If anything fades or colors blend, I'll never know it anyhow. I just cram it in there and forget about it.
But my duds get clean and they feel snuggly soft and smell good, so I consider it successful.
But what if...
...we had a laundry day, spiritually speaking? Follow along, here. What if we all had a day, or days, if necessary, where we all aired it out? A day to pile up and sort out all the stuff that makes life complicated and shove it into the mix and churn it until it comes out brilliant white and spring fresh.
I can say with a fair degree of certainty that we all have issues with people. We smile and act all polite and loving, but corral the crowd into separate herds and the eyes start rolling and the criticism begins. I'm guilty of it, and honestly, you are too, aren't you?
Maybe I'm being unrealistic but I wish we could all suck it up, put on our thick skins and hear what people say about us when we aren't listening. You've wondered that, haven't you? Haven't you been around a group of people who are tearing down someone and you have a sneaking suspicion that YOU are the inside joke when you aren't around?
And what about the ones you tear down? Don't you sometimes feel bad for speaking or thinking things about someone that you normally overwhelm with kindness?
I can't help but wonder how great it would be if the air between us was clear. If we came face to face with the truth that we really aren't always right, that other people are just as put out with us as we are with them, then maybe we could see things more clearly.
There is an old Cherokee prayer that says, "Oh Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins."
Yeah, I went there.
