Thirty-five thousand dollars seems like a large number if you’re talking about a monthly grocery or electric bill. It’s considerably less than a new car in America according to Kelly Blue Book earlier this year. Numbers are relative, and subject to topic and who’s interpreting them. I recently learned about a number that blew my mind.

Research completed by Cornell University, and reported in 2021, then modified in 2025, indicated the average adult makes approximately 35,000 choices, or decisions, each day. Of course, Dear Reader, those include which shoes to wear, the dressing on your salad, and whether to stop at a caution light or buzz straight on through. There’s little doubt that some decisions have greater impact than others.

What does all that have to do with a laundry-themed devotional? In this person’s brain, plenty!

Growing up, Mama was notorious in our family network, and even neighborhood, for her vigilant laundry routines. Our clothes never hit the floor. Nothing was wadded and tossed into a drawer. “A place for everything, and everything in its place” was the mantra Mama drilled into us. I still think of her every time I do laundry, and rarely is a item out of place.

How to be an exceptional laundress isn’t all Mama taught me. She taught me about the importance of making decisions. Mama taught me that, at some level, each of us has the power to make decisions, and with that power comes responsibility.

The Art of Laundry is about intentional decisions, day in and day out, intentionally deciding to seek connections between God, the Creator and Ruler of the Universe, and even mundane things in our lives, like doing laundry.

Maybe that doesn’t seem remarkable. I didn’t realize until years later just how amazing it was for Mama. Somewhere on Mama’s top ten, along with Jesus, family, and laundry, was her love towards and passion for serving seniors. Without professional training, she was relegated to the most menial tasks when she went to work at a senior care center. One of those tasks was washing soiled linens by hand. Some nights she would come home with her knuckles bleeding from scrubbing sheets with harsh detergents , , , but she never complained.

Mama not only talked about the power of making decisions, she lived it, Dear Reader. She intentionally chose devotion to the seniors she helped care for over a resentful attitude about the lowly work she did for them every day.

My heart likes to think lessons about decision-making, power, and responsiblity trickled down to my daughter. I like to think God smiles when he looks at her, when He sees her first published book was named, Choose Joy. And perhaps Mama rejoices that intentionally choosing joy in her life made a difference for more people than she imagined.

If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him.

James 1:5 AMP

The Art of Laundry blends Mama stories, tips for the ordinary chore of doing laundry, encouragement, plus exhortations from Scriptures and prayers. As the subtitle describes it, Dear Reader, it’s a “Devotional for Anyone Who Wears or Washes Clothes.” It’s suitable to use as a personal devotional, or small group book study. A FREE DIGITAL VERSION is available below.

Dear Reader, who is/was someone in your life that gently taught you invaluable life lessons through ordinary things? Was it explicit, or did you, like me, take a minute to fully grasp the message? What spiritual truths do you want your life to most exemplify to those around you?

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people.

Colossians 3:23

Take a look at “Faithful Friends” from October 8.