The towels smelled gross. I pressed my nose against my fresh towel, expecting that lovely clean scent. Instead, there is an undertone of must, of mold. My nose wrinkled reflexively; something had to change.
Better do it all at once, I thought, and I began gathering towels from around the house, performing a small scavenger hunt into cupboards, bathrooms, and towel racks. As I gathered my small mountain of towels, a line from scripture came to me. “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul” (Psalm 19:8).
Fitting for that line to pop into my head. There is something similar, after all, in refreshing the soul and refreshing towels. Hand towels, bath towels, and beach towels joined me in the mudroom, and I set out to refresh them.
God’s law: Refreshing the soul
The law is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word “refreshing.” Perhaps a glass of lemonade or a dip in a cool lake. The law is hard, cold at times, and not always palatable. Yet the law has the power to refresh us in unique ways.
Sometimes our lives and souls, like my towels, can get a bit musty. You strive to keep your soul clean, no doubt, but that isn’t always enough to keep it refreshed. It’s not enough to add an extra spiritual reading book or do an additional novena. These extra practices, while good in themselves, can at times weigh us down, just as towels can get over-saturated with detergent. To return your soul its freshness, you must go back to the beginning: back to the law.
I began the first load of a process that would likely take the rest of the afternoon. My green-checked bath towels filled about a third of the washer; I added a cup of vinegar, closed the lid, and selected the highest heat setting.
The key ingredient to refreshing towels? Vinegar. From the ancient French, “vyn egre” or “bitter wine,” it has many uses in medicine, cooking, or cleaning. It is acidic, not very appetizing on its own, but extremely useful across many facets of life.
To return your soul its freshness, you must go back to the beginning: back to the law.
God’s law is much the same.
While on the surface it can appear strict and unappetizing, the law surrounds and sanctifies us. The Ten Commandments, a list of dos and don’ts, have the power to refresh and heal our souls with their bitter wine. For example, what does it mean to never lie? While at first glance it’s simply a command that forbids an action, the result is to create a lover of truth. Or what about never stealing? The command to never take what is not yours renders in hearts a strong sense of justice.
I watched the towels begin their merry dance, soaking in the vinegary water, and began dividing my large mountain into molehills in anticipation of the future loads.
Lent: A spiritual spring cleaning
When our soul is weighed down and our spiritual life is rather musty, we should return to the law. What better time to do this than during Lent, Mother Church’s way of spring-cleaning the souls of her children? Return to the Ten Commandments, to the Golden Rule, to the two most important dictates of the law: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).
When the washer sang its outro, I returned to lift the heavy damp towels into the dryer, putting the temperature on low and the timer on for several hours, then began the process with one of my assembled molehills — cheerful beach towels this time.
This Lenten season, take the time to soak in the law — to really understand what it means and set out to practice it. Perhaps choose one dictate to focus on to revitalize your soul, just as you would separate your towels before the wash. Attempting to shove the whole pile into the washer at once is bad for the washer, and the towels will not be fully refreshed. In the same way, attempting to live intensively all God’s laws in a renewed, deeper way will most likely hurt the washer (you) and the towels (the habits and virtues you are attempting to form). Instead, take it one piece at a time — maybe focus on lying or what it really means to keep the Sabbath holy.
I opened the singing dryer and lifted the warm, soft bundle to my nose, inhaling the clean scent. During this season of renewal, take some time to ponder and truly live God’s law. I promise it will refresh your soul … just like your towels.
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