Laundry Blessing

I blessed my laundry today. You should know that of all of the household chores I avoid, folding and hanging my clothes tops the list. But there I was, in my small apartment, by myself, talking to my clothes.

\"You’ve always been such a soft shirt. Thank you for making me feel comfortable,\" I say. \"Oh, now this dress. How beautiful you are. The last time I wore you, I felt so elegant and graceful. Thank you for making me feel so feminine,\" I proclaim. \"My bathing suit.\" Hmmm, now THIS was going to be a tricky one. \"You know bathing suit, I bought you because of how slender you make me feel. And the last time I wore you, I enjoyed swimming laps in the pool. Thank you for helping me glide along the water so effortlessly.\"

Ok, before someone has me committed or suggests that I desperately need something else to do with my Saturday nights, there was a purposeful reason for this laundry blessing. I was feeling lack and scarcity in my life – something many people are likely feeling in this very moment. You see, my mother and I had just finished talking on the phone.

“Your poor brother and his wife have so much stuff,” she tells me. “In fact, we spent all day today boxing up their extra things and moving them to the storage room in the basement. Thankfully they have a ton of extra space. Their house is just enormous.” Now mind you, I am happy that my brother and his wife have a lovely home to raise a family in; however, after about a half-hour of listening to my mother talk about my brother’s burden of abundance, I made an excuse to hang-up the phone.

I looked around and my humble dwelling, trying to find a way to be comfortable with the things I have and the space I live in. After all, how, does one reconcile the life they’re in with the life of their dreams? And while my dreams look very different than my brother’s, they do include a home of my own that’s filled with an abundance of love. I fall asleep at night in that place, in that sacred space of my ultimate dream. But when I wake the next morning back in the bedroom of my current life, I wonder how to keep the faith.

\"Gratitude,\" I think. \"Go now, and bless all of the beautiful things you do have. They give and give and give to you each day, and ask nothing in return. Bless and thank them, and you, too, will be blessed.\" So I did. I blessed my laundry. I blessed my refrigerator and my dishes. I blessed my hand-me-down coffee table and my borrowed lamp. I blessed my photos and my flower vases. I blessed my books and incense. I thanked my space for giving me exactly what I need in this moment. And you know what? That feeling of lack floated away, and a feeling of abundance took up the space that scarcity once occupied.