Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall; Who's the fairest in the land... This is a line from Snow White made by the wicked queen preening in her mirror.

Mirror: "a reflective surface, now typically of glass coated with a metal amalgam, that reflects a clear image".

We know what a mirror is, and we know what it is for. Most of us use a mirror more than once a day. We use it to check our hair, make up, beard, clothing—we want to know if we look right—on the outside.

James 1:23 " For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror:"

There are many who don't hear the Word, yet try to judge others as if they themselves are some great judge. Their standard is themself, and they believe that 'self' to be perfect. 

Matthew 7:1  "Judge not, that ye be not judged." They throw around this scripture (apparently the only one they know) as if it is the whole of the Bible. They must believe that it will insulate them from the judgement day. But it won't.  John 7:24 "Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

James 1:24  for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

We look in the mirror to see what we look like on the outside. We want to look the best we can when we make our entrance into the public spectrum. Do we believe that a perfect 'outside' makes a perfect inside? Most people will admit they aren't perfect, but do we believe other people must be?

 When we look into history, if a historical person wasn't perfect does that make their contribution in history null and void? If it does we are in trouble.

• The greatest event in history would still be recorded: hint Jesus is the only perfect person.
•   If only perfect people and their contribution were to remain, history would be small. 
• We are judging people of the past by our present. 
• Our judgement by any standard is flawed. 

Even with only one eye open peering into the mirror, none of us would be perfect. We have to be totally blind to think we are. Again, John 7:24 "Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." Not that we can't judge at all, but judge with righteous judgement.

When we look into the Word of God we find that none of us is righteous, no not one. Why do we judge ourselves by one standard and others by another standard? Or as Stephen M.R. Covey has said,
“We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behaviour.”
James 1:25 "But he that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing."

Too many have stopped looking into the perfect law, the perfect Word of God. They have stopped respecting God and are rejecting His Word as their guide for their lives. As a great prophet once said:

"Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

(Matthew 3:2 ASV)

Hallelujah! What a Savior! 

Each Day

Monday is so exciting, being the first working day of the week, and Tuesday is as well. Since Monday was 'wash day', Tuesday was for ironing. The only place I remember Tuesday as ironing day was at my mother's home. Monday after the laundry was done, we would take the clothing to be ironed, lay it on a flat surface such as a table and sprinkle it with clean water. Then we would fold the outside in toward the middle (such as the sleeves on a shirt would be laid in the middle). Starting at one end  we would roll the article up and place it in a plastic bag or sack. After all of the 'ironing' was rolled up and in the sack, it would be placed in the bottom of the refrigerator over night. I don't remember starching the clothes, but we may have. I was only 5 and 6 when at that time frame. I've read that people used to wash starch into the clothing, but I just don't remember doing it. At five years old I began ironing on sheets, pillow cases, and handkerchiefs. When I was seven years and beyond, my sister and I returned to live with my Grandparents I had graduated to regular things such as shirts and dresses as well.
I've included two pictures in this post. This one is of a wringer type washer and the rinse tubs. At the bottom is a picture of a refrigerator such as one that we would have had when I was young. More on that later. 


At my grandparents house our wash day was different and so was our ironing day. When I was very small (my grandparents would have been 55 the year I was born, so when I was a five year old they would have been 60) I do remember the wringer washer set up on the front porch and my grandmother washing and hanging things on the clothes line. However, by the time I was 6 or 7 they were over 60 and pumping enough water to fill the wringer washer, heating it on the gas stove, and then carrying it out to the porch wasn't an easy task. At that time we began taking clothes in to the laundry mat on Saturday. We would put the clothes in the washers then go two doors down to Ed and Martha's locker and grocery store to do our shopping. That's where we had our meat butchered and stored, so we would go pick up our weekly allotment of meat and canned goods. There was a few fresh produce items, but not many. As we got old enough my cousin, Dakota and I would go across to the 'Drug Store' and read through the comic books. We got a 25 cent allowance which would cover the cost of one comic book and one cherry coke. After our time at the soda fountain at the Drug store we would go back to the laundry mat and help sort and fold the clothes coming out of the driers. We went home and did our chores and helped with supper. There would be three baskets of ironing, which we divided between my sister, my cousin, and myself. I don't remember sprinkling the clothes and putting them in the fridge at that point, but we may have done so. At some point we graduated to spray starch.

"neither did we eat bread for nought at any man's hand, but in labor and travail, working night and day, that we might not burden any of you: not because we have not the right, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you, that ye should imitate us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, If any will not work, neither let him eat. For we hear of some that walk among you disorderly, that work not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing." 
(2 Thessalonians 3:8-13 ASV)

One of the tasks we have done for quite a number of years is to raise as much of our own food as is possible. God has blessed us in that we've lived 'country' most of our lives. Although we have lived carefully, and raised our own, when I can afford it we take our chickens (that we hand raise ourselves) to a butcher. About fifteen years ago I went to pick my chickens up from said butcher and one of the helpers, a middle-aged teen boy was helping me load them into the back of my vehicle. I asked him about his job, and he said it wasn't his favorite job in the world. My response was: it pays and it's honest, be thankful for it. Paul the Apostle was a tent maker. He wasn't hesitant to work with his hands, and he encourages others to work as well. The work we were busy with when I was young wasn't always easy, but it had it's rewards and blessings. Scripture encourages each of us to work willingly at whatever work we find to do. 

Halelujah! What a Savior!

Monday Morning

Monday morning is so full of possibilities. Personally, Monday for me is a freedom day, not as so many portray it as a 'back to work' day. Monday is like a blank white sheet of paper. As a writer a blank piece of paper has so much potential. Or, it could be more like a white canvas waiting for the picture to be filled in.

In the days before time—as a young married couple—each day had its chore. Monday was 'wash' day. The laundry day. And an all day occupation it was. My first washing machine was a wringer washer. Now for ya'll younger gals that was a round motorized tub washer with an attached wringer. I would fill it with hot water, add the soap, and then the white clothes. Usually white shirts were washed first. There were two rinse tubs that stood beside the washer, and my first load I would set the timer for them to wash so many minutes. When that timer went off (those first years my washer was down in the cemented basement) I went down stairs, turned the washer off and ran the clothes through the wringer and into the first rinse tub filled with warm water. I would swish that around, working the garment up and down to rinse the soap out. Next I would flip the knob on the wringer to turn it enough and wring the garments into a second rinse tub, where I would repeat the rinse, and at last wring the clothes into the laundry basket. Before I carried the clothes basket out to be hung on the clothes line I would put the next load of clothes in the washer and turn the agitator back on. I always began with the white, then light clothes, proceeding to the darker colors and the work clothes. 

Since it was the days before time, we also used cloth diapers. That meant diaper pails. Each time baby's diaper was changed it went into a large what we called a diaper pail. It was just a round plastic container about two and a half foot tall with a plastic lid, and no handle per se. Most often there was either a small amount of laundry soap or borax or both in hot water in the pail. As the pail filled with diapers more hot water was added. At certain times, at least once a day, the old water would be drained out and fresh hot water/soap/borax would be added. I didn't wash diapers but once a week. (Remember I had to fill the wringer washer with hot water, and etc. and only did laundry once a week.) So it had to be a large pail, and we had a large amount of diapers. The diaper pail sat in the bathroom close to the stool. Pooey diapers would be emptied/rinsed into the stool then wrung out and tossed into the pail. Potty diapers just went into the pail. When it was time to carry the diapers down to wash I would wring each one out, empty the pail, and carry them down to the washer. They would be washed after the delicate and whites, but before the work clothes. 

As I said, with the first load I set a timer, but after that I just carried out a load, came back ran the next load through the wringer, put another load in, carried out, and the cycle went on into the afternoon. I had a big double line that ran east and west, and turned and ran north and south. I couldn't hang everything out all at once, but once it was full I could start bringing in the first hung out stuff. That added to the mix. Diapers dried rather quickly, and everything smelled so fresh and clean when brought in. 

Birds do seem to have a sense of humor, not that I care for their humor, but mulberry trees grow well out here in the country. Birds eat mulberries, then seem to take delight in trying to hit anything white hanging on clothes lines with bird pooh. I have had that happen more than I care to remember. 

Laundry day was an all day task. When finished hanging the clothes out on the line, there was the task of bringing them in. Late in the day I had clothes to fold and put away. 

"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest." (Ecclesiastes 9:10 ASV)

"The appetite of the laboring man laboreth for him; For his mouth urgeth him thereto." 
(Proverbs 16:26 ASV)

"The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep." (Ecclesiastes 5:12)

"Behold, that which I have seen to be good and to be comely is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, wherein he laboreth under the sun, all the days of his life which God hath given him: for this is his portion."(Ecclesiastes 5:18 ASV)