I often wash our children’s sneakers and footwear on the gentle cycle of our washing machine. It cleans and freshens up the shoes, and they look like new. We don’t have to replace their shoes as often.”Shoe Stewardship” as we call it.

After a day at the park (after a full day of rain the day before) with Gabrielle’s class for an end-of-the-school-year picnic, our flip flops and sandals were filthy. The mud and wet playground mulch had seeped deep into the porous material of our footwear. When we got home, I put our footwear in the washing machine on the delicate cycle with some other delicate items. 

When the delicate load of laundry was complete, I opened up the washer to hang the clothes and to put the shoes out in the sun for drying. As I pulled out our footwear, I was surprised that much of the dirt was still there. The delicate cycle was not strong enough to do the deep cleaning they needed. I put the shoes back in the washer (in a laundry bag) with a heavy-duty load, which included high agitation, high spin and an extra rinse. After the heavy-duty load was complete, our footwear came out clean!

I felt God whisper to my heart as I stood in the laundry room finishing up the day’s laundry. “Sometimes, Sharon, I need to run the heavy duty cycle on your heart to get out the yuck that has seeped in.” Sometimes we go through “heavy-duty cycles with high agitation, high spin and an extra rinse” of our hearts. The heavy-duty agitation we experience and the high spin and extra rinse are just what our hearts need sometimes. It is not comfortable; it is downright painful at times. But when the heavy-duty cycle is what works best, God uses it and faithfully does a necessary work in our hearts. 

Who knew the laundry room could become a sanctuary? God met me personally in our laundry room that day. The powerful wash and extra rinse by the Living Water through the water of His Word was just what I needed. While I’d often prefer to keep my heart on the delicate cycle for cleansing, I fully realize that any significant growth in my walk with the Lord would not occur without the deep cleaning my heart needs at times. And as only our amazing God can do, He is gentle with us even during the heavy-duty cycles of life. After all, He rules over the surging seas.  

[originally posted June 2009]