Pet Peeve #22-Sort the Laundry

Doing the laundry in the old ringer washer was one of my chores. AND mom always made me sort the laundry.

Once a load was washed and wrung out, it sat in the basket until the next load was washed and wrung out, which sat in another basket until the next load was washed and wrung out, until the wash water was so dirty it was time to turn the pump on, pump the water out and then start filling the tub with rinse water.

Repeating the same sequence with the rinsing of the loads of laundry and then running outside to hang them on the clotheslines to dry took most of the morning.

Why did it matter if the clothes were sorted? Colors run. Now they have laundry soap that prevents that so why sort? Because whites go dingy if you don't. They have a color-safe, fabric-safe bleach for that.... Yes, however it doesn't really do a great job of keeping the white white. I'm not talking solely about solid white articles of clothing. I have and my Dove has articles that have a white background and printed patterns or woven stripes. To keep the white part white, you really need to sort like colors together.

As a foster parent I listened to a therapist explain to our foster son the importance of wearing clean clothes (I guess he had complained to her about me making him sort his laundry before washing it). She said that the clothes you wear and the cleanliness of them tells society just what kind of person you are.

Have you ever looked at a person wearing dingy looking clothing and felt repulsed?

There's another ramification concerning white clothes one should consider.

Matthew 22:11: “…he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment (footnote to Rev. 19:8)

Rev. 19:8 “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”

True righteousness is learning about and becoming like God. Righteousness becomes the motivation to develop god-like characteristics which feeds self-actualization of mirroring Christ’s example in all our callings and every aspect of our lives.