A Glad and Grateful Heart
By Sr. Nun Other
I did laundry the other day, and noticed a drip or two of liquid detergent on our new washer. A Christmas gift from a sister’s mother, it’s beautiful, state-of-the-art, and eco-friendly. It even plays a little tune when you open the lid, six musical notes that somehow convey how great clean laundry is. As I reached for a cloth and spray cleaner to remove the drips, I was reminded of an early lesson I received.
The lesson was about a grateful heart, and the teacher was my sister, twelve years older than I am. She had asked for my help at the laundromat, and we had several baskets full. After the last load was neatly folded, my sister added one more task: she cleaned and polished both the washer and dryer she’d used. I asked her why, and her reply made a deep impression. She explained that because she and her husband struggled financially, they were unable to afford a washer and dryer for their home. But she was grateful for the laundromat and the opportunity it provided. Why not treat their machines as if they were her own. It was a lesson about expressing love and gratitude in a practical way, for ordinary things. For me, a grateful heart is a concept with its feet on the ground.
