Hand Ironing

I may be the manager where I work, but that doesn't mean I escape chores. Today I was folding laundry and realized I do some things I learned as I child. Hand ironing, fluffing the sheets are both just habits from when I ironed regularly. They are little things that make for more and less work.

Most of the sheets I fold in the air - they never touch a table. An important step is shaking the wrinkles out or fluffing the sheets. But the pillow cases I have to have a table. It just doesn't feel right to me unless near the end of the folding process I can lay the pillow cases on the table and smooth away the wrinkles.

I suspect most of my guests will never notice that I did such. The flat sheets with their corners all together and the fitted sheets with the pockets tucked in aren't readily noticeable even if one is looking at the laundry in stacks on the shelves. Most guests only see the sheets and pillow cases unfolded and on the beds. Yet taking the extra time on those steps isn't wasted.

It's not wasted because it is part of doing a good job. Learning to take care in even the steps that aren't seen makes it more likely that I (or my staff) will take care in the things that our guests do see. If the sheets are folded neatly, then the housekeepers can find the corners more easily. If the tags on the towels are tucked in, then the guests don't see odd bits that look like loose threads.

And it's not just for the guests that I do these little extras. It's part of that presbyterian heritage with which I was raised. We do everything for the glory of God. That 'glory for God' idea can be abused which is why I call myself a 'recovering perfectionist'. We may think, at times, that we do everything perfectly for the glory of God and anything that isn't perfect does less than glorify God. We can confuse that striving to do everything well with the idea that we've got to keep working and forget that the Sabbath rest we take is also for the glory of God. We can go astray. Yet even with those possibilities of confusing our desires, our perfectionistic streaks, our workaholism, or some other sin, there is still a joy in trying to do everything to the best of our ability.

And the root of doing everything for the glory of God is doing what we are involved in as best we can. I paint. But I paint for my own self because I'm not very good. Yet when I paint I do the best job that I can do. I sing. And when I sing others find enjoyment as I've got a trained voice and have sung semi-professionally. Yet when I do so with less than I have ability whether or not others find pleasure is irrelevant. If I do less than that of which I am capable then I am not glorifying God no matter what others may think of my performance.

Hand ironing, fluffing sheets, painting, singing or whatever I am doing can be done for the glory of God. When I do those things, or anything else, to the best of my ability then I am in worship, in prayer, and glorifying the one I seek to serve.