Soaking in God

You know as a wife and mother I do a lot of laundry. I love the soak cycle. That's when the noisy washing machine takes a break and suddenly the tension in the house lightens a little as you realize you didn't realize how noisy that machine is! Just before the soak cycle is a great pouring out of torrents of water all over the clothes. The sound of the rushing water can drown out the telephone ringing, three children screaming, and a miniature schnauzer barking all at once. Then there is the steady agitation that makes sure there is nothing settled in the tub at all. All this chaos and stirring up. All this unrest. Then the peace of the whole process resting, sitting quietly still... soaking.

Today Oswald was talking about placing ourselves to soak in God, and, being a mom, my mind immediately went to the laundry room! He was discussing how the busyness of life so often gets in the way of a personal relationship with Christ. Busyness...it's every mom's number one enemy against really getting to know who God is. (OK, it's MY number one enemy!). Sure, our "overactive energies" are so often for good. Toting kids, creating school projects and family dinners, serving in church and striving at the gym...all for good reasons. But all the antithesis of the soak cycle.
During the soak cycle we breathe in the detergent filled water that finds the dirt, lifts it away and penetrates our souls with the clean, fresh, Living Water. And here, we learn to allow God to pass through our stain filled lives and we come out on the other side clean, refreshed, renewed... ready for service.

Soaking is also essential in woodworking so I'm told. I believe Christ was particularly fond of woodworking. Wood soaked in water becomes moldable and pliable. Molded into the shape God needs. Pliable so that it doesn't break or snap under pressure.

Soaking is what tree roots do. Lifting nourishment from the earth to the limbs that lift in praise towards heaven.

Soaking is what bathtubs are for...resting...warm...vulnerable yet secure...I like the soak cycle.

No, I can't stay in the soak cycle forever; just like the washer goes on to agitate some more and then spin. The spin cycle sometimes frightens me (I think my washing machine has become possessed and is going to march right out of the laundry room and eat me!) But maybe if I soak enough, I'll come out of the spin cycle not only unscathed, but brighter and more beautiful than when I went in.