Jesus shows up everywhere, even in laundry!

“The spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.” Romans 8:11 paraphrased

When we do laundry, my husband is quick to remind me to check all the pockets. I have a habit of keeping Kleenex or paper in my pockets and sometimes they get to be washed. The other night, my husband threw a load in the wash and later into the dryer. As I started getting the laundry out of the dryer, a blue pen fell on the floor. I thought, “uh-oh” and I was right. As we went through the clothes, we found the ink had leaked on a few items. Could it have leaked onto my raggedy T-shirt I use for painting? Oh no. The bulk of the ink leaked onto my new gray sweater and a couple pairs of pants. But my new sweater! I calmly reminded my husband how many times he has reminded me to check the pockets and it was HIS pen that did the damage. I took my sweater to the dry cleaner and they said they couldn’t guarantee they would be successful and I had to wait 2 days to see the results.

This all happened right before Holy week, which God reminded me that Jesus can be seen in everything, even small things like a leaky pen. We can see our sins as the leaked ink all over us, but Jesus covered them all with his blood and we are made clean. Thankfully, once we receive Christ, there’s no waiting period. I do wonder what the disciples were thinking in the time after Jesus died on the cross and before they saw he was resurrected. I can’t compare my sadness about my inky sweater with the disciples’ sadness of the loss of their friend (and all the other emotions of fear, confusion, etc). He did tell them many times about what was going to happen (like my husband reminding me to check the pockets), but it’s not until it actually happens that the emotions hit. I also found it curious that the pen made it from the washer to the dryer for the ink to really set in the clothes. In a recent Bible study session, it was pointed out that Paul laid out the main points about Jesus to the Corinthians: He died for our sins, buried, arose, appeared to others and fulfilled Scripture. In my story about the pen, I was reminded also that the ink sinking in was like Jesus being buried. He had to go through all the steps so he could complete his sacrifice of covering our sins. Praise God!

They did get the bulk of it out of my sweater so that it is presentable. Before I got it back, my husband had told me that I could go buy a new sweater if it was ruined. Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t look at our sins that way? That we have sinned too much and He would rather go find new people? Instead, because He loved us that much, He asked His son to sacrifice for us all, to make us white as snow. And not just for the pretty sweaters. For all, including the painted T-shirts. We can look at the ratty T-shirt and think it doesn't deserve to be cleaned. But we are all not worthy of His grace and sacrifice, but He did it anyways.

I am keeping the sweater as it is to remind me that even if it may not look perfect, Jesus doesn’t see the ink. I am grateful for that and hope you are too!