This past June hubby and I had the opportunity to take a “Journeys of Paul” cruise with a group from Prestonwood Baptist Church, through Inspiration Travel.
Our very first port stop was Kusadasi, Turkey.
A tour of the ancient city of Ephesus was planned for that day.
Hubby and I were very excited about touring Ephesus! As we hurriedly got ready to leave for our adventure that morning, I did not take the time to tidy up our cabin. Our small pile of dirty laundry I pushed off to the side in a little heap. I would deal with it when we got back.
After a full day of exploring the ruins of ancient Ephesus hubby and I finally made it back to the ship, completely exhausted!
We walked into our cabin … and much to my shock I noticed right away that the steward for our cabin had not only tidied up our cabin that day, but he had also neatly folded our small pile of dirty laundry and left it in a nice little pile on the couch. Just the thought of a complete stranger folding our dirty underwear was horrifying.
Never again. Never again would I let a complete stranger neatly fold our dirty underwear. From then on out I made a specific point to hide all our dirty laundry each morning before we left for our adventure for the day.
Hiding our dirty laundry.
How often in life do we “hide our dirty laundry”?
I would guess that probably all of us “hide our dirty laundry” when it comes to life. We don’t want everyone knowing the issues we have going on in the secret places of our life.
A few days later on our cruise we had a “Day at Sea” … when there was no port stop and no shore excursions. During our “Day at Sea” hubby and I took a behind-the-scenes tour of the ship. It was great fun!
We got to see the main transportation corridor which all the employees use. It was called the I-94 Corridor.
We got to see the Engineering Control Room.
We got to see the cold food storage area.
We got to see the laundry facilities. All of the towels for the pool were washed and cleaned here.
All of the linens for the cabin bedding were washed and cleaned here.
All of the bath towels for the cabins were washed and cleaned here.
Cruise passengers could have their own personal clothing washed and pressed here. (for a fee)
They even had dry-cleaning machines.
The clean sheets and bedding were sent through enormous machines which folded them automatically.
It was the coolest thing ever to be able to see the laundry facilities, deep in the bottom of the ship.
As a passenger on the cruise ship, I was hiding our dirty laundry every day because I was too embarrassed for our steward to see or to mess with our dirty underwear.
But on the flip side, it didn’t bother me at all for the steward to take away our dirty towels each day … because I knew the washing and cleaning of the towels was free.
What if the cleaning of all our dirty laundry had been free? Would I have been hiding our dirty laundry if I knew that it could be taken away and cleaned for free?
When it comes to life, we all have “dirty laundry” which we are hiding. Secret things in secret corners of our life which we don’t want anyone to know about. Things we struggle with. Secret battles nobody knows about. Mistakes from our past which we are ashamed of. Regrets. Mistakes. Failures. Etc. …
Jesus tells us: “Give your ‘dirty laundry’ to me and I will take care of it.
But oftentimes we are too embarrassed to give our “dirty laundry” to Jesus. Just like I was too embarrassed to have the cabin steward folding our dirty underwear.
Our “dirty laundry” seems too personal and embarrassing to give to Jesus.
But Jesus loves us so much that he offers to take away all our “dirty laundry.” Jesus can take it all away and make us clean and new.
Don’t hide your “dirty laundry” from Jesus. Let Jesus take all that “dirty laundry” away and make you clean and new.
