Sat in the garage and watched my eldest daughter working the washing machine on the laundry. Not much on the pile but she insisted to do it even if I told her to wait for the wash lady. The wash lady comes to the house once or twice a week to do the dirty clothes. Anyway, back to my daughter. She then placed all the whites in first and as the machine did its job she moved over to the colored ones to sort out those that needed to be washed separately. You know, some colors stain while others hold on good.
Well, I shifted my watch back to the washing machine which was now gleefully tossing and turning clothes around in a big crazy whirlpool. Boring? Yeah after awhile, who says it wouldn’t be?! But I wasn’t there to be bored, far from it. Something else was on my mind.
The thing about washing machines, aside from its apparent use and purpose in our homes, is that it reminds me of ‘troubles’. You know those unwanted disliked hated treacherous and mind-boggling bits and pieces which cause so much misery and strain to our lives. Troubles which in a huge way and manner halt our progress wherever we had planned to go, create so much unnecessary friction and resistance, and sometimes manage to push us over the cliff. Heaven forbid! It doesn’t care if we get hurt in the process; in fact it’s there to hurt us --- albeit a common perception.
But honestly although troubles seem to appear as the big villain in our small usually ordinary lives, it’s not really what it’s commonly perceived to be. Yes, it does shake us to the core, uproot us from comfort zones, toss and turn us around in frenzy, hammer us to the ground, beat us till we’re black and blue. And that’s not even all.
Yet have you noticed what comes after? What becomes of you particularly? Let’s see ….
- A pledge to fiercely beat the odds at all cost given another chance
- Anger translated into positive resolve and action
- A sudden burst of new hope and optimism
- Willingness to change after the hurt and pain of failure
- Seeing life with better clarity and vision
- Nudged to tackle anew challenges with fresh tenacity
- Wiser and smarter after having learned from the experience
- Kindled the almost dying flame of faith and conviction
- Enlightened and strengthened relationships
And many more added to that list. You know them in your heart. So then…..
“Troubles are like washing machines -- They twist, turn & knock us around, but in the end we come out brighter than before.” - Anon.
Gr8 post, Ellen. This morning driving to office i received a call from my sister who went through a troubled time last day after putting in all efforts at her work place. She could not get the due recognition just becoz of her spouse's ill-perception. She was crying tears. I felt helpless for a moment. And a saga of emotions that y she has to suffer so much at times. But, ur this post does throw some light and i wish it works the same for her. i would be forwarding this piece to her on email. i did refer to her ur blog often but she does not use net as frequently as me.
ReplyDeletePearl! what a lovely surprise! It's been ages. :-)
ReplyDeleteGosh, I can understand your sister's feelings. But it's not the end of the world if things don't work out fine. She can always try something else that just might work. There are many ways to beat a perceived problem -- solutions that could take one over it, under it, to its left, or its right, or just crash through it headstrong. What is meant is that one can always exercise some creativity in dealing with a problem. With that, certainly a solution can't be far behind. Besides if you lose - you still have yourself. That's what matters.
Good luck to her.
Take care too, Pearl.
Hope to see you again.
God bless!