The Eighteen-Hour Laundry Day

<p>It was my turn to do laundry. At my house, wet laundry often gets hung out on a backyard clothesline to dry in the sunshine and breeze. Sometimes, though, we use our clothes dryer. But its timer broke years ago, so we have to set a separate timer when we use the dryer.</p><p>.</p><p>One afternoon, I was using the dryer and a load of laundry seemed slow to finish drying. I restarted it and reset my timer. When the timer buzzed, I checked the laundry again. One towel remained damp. I returned it to the dryer to continue drying. Only I forgot to set a timer this time. For the rest of the day—and night—the dryer ran without me (or anybody else in my family) realizing it. The next morning,</p><p>I discovered the clothes dryer still in action. After stopping the machine, I snatched the towel out and stomped off to confront my family.</p><p>.</p><p>When they all denied leaving the dryer on, I recalled I’d been the one to leave it running for almost eighteen hours. I sheepishly apologized for my unfair accusations, acknowledging my own mistake and my need for their forgiveness after the way I’d treated them.</p><p>.</p><p>Being honest about our sins is part of living as a follower of Jesus. When we put our trust in Jesus, He brings us into a relationship with God and makes us part of His family. On top of that, we receive all the forgiveness we’ll ever need because He provided the payment for our sins when He died on the cross and rose from the dead. That means we can be honest about our failures because we know that God already sees all our sin, and He loves us unconditionally. Since we belong to Jesus, we can humbly acknowledge our mistakes and sins, take responsibility for them, and move forward in the grace He gives. • Allison Wilson Lee</p><p>.</p><p>• While forgetting about a laundry machine is a mistake, lashing out against others in anger is a sin (Galatians 5:13-15). Thankfully, God wants to forgive our sins, and He also wants to help us when we make mistakes. How could these truths give us hope when we mess