Stubborn As a Mule Ox

Everyone has their quirks. I am sure that you have little idiosyncrasies that your friends know and love. It makes you, you. I would love to hear what they are, so have some compassion on this blogger and make me smile by telling me one in the comments section.

I have certain qualities that cause me some amount of grief. I am horrible with idioms. Yesterday, I was talking to our beloved church secretary, and I asked her if I was going up a dead tree. It made perfect sense to me. She informed me that I was mixing my idioms. This offers my husband minutes of head shaking and smirking every day of our marriage. I could stop using them, but then what would I say?

So, this morning one of my “qualities” caught my attention. I am stubborn as a mule ox. I don’t think that sounds quite right, either, but moving on.

I was doing laundry. Completely ignoring the heeding of Emily, over at Chatting at the Sky. I stopped to think half way down the hall. The laundry is sorted, so all that I have to do is get it to the washer. So, I take a pile.

This sounds easy, but no. I stoop to the ground raking in clothes, piling them to the point of explosion in my arms. I cannot carry them completely upright because I am relying, partially, on the tops of my legs as a barricade. Bent legged and without adjustment, for fear of losing the load, I hobble to the laundry room looking more like a troll than a woman.

I had to stop and think because when you carry the laundry in your arms like this, the inevitable will happen. I heard the soft pattering of my usual defeat. Behind me lay the carnage of those discarded in the process, a sock, a sports bra, a shirt.

To complete the process, I actually do it all twice. In order to get everything to the laundry room, I unsuccessfully carry the first load and then go back to clean up the mess I left behind.

Some of you would say, “Buy a laundry basket”. Yes, you hit the nail in the board? Excellent advice. I happen to have one, five steps from where I stoop to scoop. It is lovely and tall with wheels. It is the perfect laundry cart. So, the problem does not lie with resource. The problem is me and my “the hard way is faster” mentality. I am stubborn as an ox mule, or is it the other way around?

In an overly simplistic way, this is the history of my prayer life. I know what to do, that is not the problem. I had to train myself to pray because I am a go-at-it-on-your-own, stubborn girl. I will pick up the mess of clothes strewn from one side of the house to the other several times before I say, “Why didn’t I just use the laundry basket?”

My spiritual life is not complete without constant awareness of His presence and dedicated time in front of the Father, but I still have to sit myself, in time out, to get it done some days. After I do this I say, “Why didn’t I just do that first?”

This decision is my act of worship. I turn myself to him in spite of my mental white noise, actively choosing Him. These choices make the difference in my walk.

I encourage you today to do it the easy way. Use a laundry basket, number one. Secondly, stop and think of the resources that are available to you. The Spirit has access to the depths of heaven. Thirdly, remember Rome wasn’t built in a pan’s flash, or something like that. Be patient with yourself.

Are you an ox mule? Let me know how that is going for you.