FITTED BED SHEETS

PRACTICE: Sit for a moment with closed eyes. Now imagine living out your purpose just for today.

LISTEN! There is nothing – absolutely nothing- harder than folding a fitted sheet…for me anyway. I have at looked videos and they still come out looking horrible. I have enlisted the aid of my husband and we still don’t achieve the square stack of flat sheet, pillow cases and fitted sheet that comes so neatly folded from the store. So, guess what? I gave up on the idea. If the sheets are somewhat neat in the linen closet, I am fine with that – that is - until I stop and critically look at the linen closet and the struggle begins again. This happens less frequently than in the past and here is why.

The purpose of a fitted sheet is not to be pristinely folded in my linen closet. A set of folded sheets in the linen closet are not living into their purpose – they are occupying space. They are waiting to be called upon by me to fulfill their ultimate purpose – covering the mattress that I sleep on and providing covering over me. So how they look in the closet is of little value other than aesthetics… a liberating thought for me.

Fitted sheets are metaphor for more places in my life than I care to think about. I am very conscious of my physical appearance when I leave home…well to be honest, around the house as well. Being well attired is of little account if I don’t bring value to my coworkers and customers in the workplace. A stranger cares nothing about my appearance if I don’t treat them with kindness and compassion or worse yet, ignore them completely. My family does not benefit from my being neatly attired if I don’t nurture our relationship spiritually, emotionally and physically. My purpose in life is not to be the folded sheet set in the closet. My purpose in life is to be used…to get dirty and soiled from interactions with others. My purpose is to be stripped from my comfort zone in ways that I didn’t know was possible, to be washed and folded with love and care from others and allowed to rest (closet) so that I can start the cycle all over again.

Eventually like a set of sheets I will wear out. I think that I would rather be worn out than to dry rot like a set of sheets left in the closet for years and years, neatly folded.

Proverbs 20:5

PONDER THIS THOUGHT – I am living MY purpose driven life.