The Gift of a Clothespin

“My Lord is not limited; He can again supply.”
 – George Muller

 

“Mommy, the laundry is all over the yard,” my nine year old reported, as she ran up to the house, finding me in the kitchen.

 

“Oh, they must have blown off the line – I have no laundry pegs,” I told her, as I finished washing up the breakfast dishes. “I’ll get the clothes in a minute. Gather what you can and put them in the basket.”

Finishing up the dishes, I slipped on my sandals and returned to the clothelines, one of my favorite spots to work around the house. Hanging laundry outside in the summer fresh air is a delight, not a chore, to me. Pulling the squeaky laundry line in after only an hour in the bright sunshine, I am often surprised to find the clothes fully dried. Not only do the clothes dry fast and sanitize in the sun, they smell like fresh air and country life, a scent that is only free from nature and can never be put into a  store-bought bottle.

But for the past few months, I have had a lack in pegs– to put it simple: I have had no clothespins – and so, I lay the clothes on the laundry line, hoping a strong wind would not blow our undershirts and the like into the neighbouring field.

“Well, where are all your clothespines?” my husband asked one morning, as he sipped his morning espresso before heading to work at the funeral home.

“Oh, you know how it is … I don’t really know … they just … disappear,” I shrugged. Where *did* those clothespins go? I had seen countless children yank their towels from the laundry line this summer, snapping the pins as they pulled down their warm towels to dry themselves after a swim in the “pool”. I knew they had broken some but I had searched the grass and could not find many pins to put back together and re-use.

But now, all the pegs were gone.

With all the upset that is going on in this world right now, I find it very challenging to get to a store. In fact, I have not been to a store in about four months – ever since Luther was born and the restrictions of shopping were put in place. My husband helps with the groceries and I just figured this is a time to make do with what we have. No quick run to the dollar store to pick up clothespins if I have to wait in a line for 15 minutes, leaving all the children at home. Things like clothespins and craft supplies – the usual dollar store purchases – would be forgotten for the time being.

And so, that morning, as I laid out the clothes on the laundry line one by one — without pegs — my thoughts drifted … to George Muller. That great man of faith prayed for everything.
Big or little.

The clothespin request was little, but was it justified for a request?

Yes, I realized I would just need to pray  — for clothespins. 

“Lord, you know I cannot go to a store right now. You know I need to hang laundry to dry. You know how much laundry a family of 11 can have! Lord, I pray that if you think I need them, you will send me some laundry pegs…”

As I finished with the laundry, my simple prayer was quiet, but I was confident my God was listening – even to my small request.

________________________________________

The three helpless ice cubes in our clear drinking glasses, filled with fresh well water,  were rapidly melting and quickly disappearing with the humid August afternoon.

Under the shade of the porch, my cousin sat opposite of me in the faded white rocking chair, while I held my baby in my lap and rocked on the porch swing. Some of the children were playing, some were quietly hovering around the porch, hanging on the porch beams, listening to our conversation. The laundry had been gathered, folded and put away. It was time to chat a little with my relative.

Our conversation was jumping all around, hardly staying on one topic for very long, as we tried to quickly catch up from a few months of not seeing each other. Finally, nearing the end of our visit, my cousin reached into her bag and pulled out a plastic ziploc bag.

“I’m not sure if you need these or not…?” she said, holding out the bag to me.  “But I brought them for you…”

I peeked inside the bag and gasped.

Clothespins. Lots of clothespins.

Tears misted my eyes. I could not believe it – but shouldn’t I have had more faith?

“Oh my … this is wonderful … amazing … you have no idea!” I excitedly told my cousin, as I dropped the clothespins in my lap. “Just this morning, I prayed for clothespins! And here they are! I needed some and God provided!

Later that evening, I told my husband about my prayer request and the gift God had sent.

God is so good and faithful – even in the little, tiny details – if we ask.  When I peg up the daily loads of laundry, I will now be reminded of the Lord’s goodness —  in the form some simple wooden clothespins.

 

 

August 12, 2020 - 8:56 pm

Teresa God cares about every little detail of our lives. If it is important to you it is important to the Father. He sees our every need and He hears our every little prayer, even if it is just asking for Him for the need of clothes pins….This story blessed my heart ~ He cares for you!

August 10, 2020 - 1:04 pm

Ruthie Dear Gigi, I love laundry dried on the line as well, but I never knew of all the health benefits. Thankyou! I’ve hung laundry all my life mainly to help save on electricity. My husband is on the other side of a bone marrow transplant at this time, and one of the things we needed to do was move within a half hour of the cancer hospital. So, we moved into our son’s newly bought home for the summer, but that means no garden as fresh dirt is a no-no to a recovering BMT patient. However, I was so happy to see the former owner had a clothes line, pins, line supports and even laundry line in the basement! There have been so many answers to prayer for us through this journey, but being able to still hang out my laundry is a personal one for me because I dearly miss my regular summer outside time. I’m also enjoying all your families’ activities and just love your GW garden! You uniquely made it the Gauthier garden!❤ Also, could you perhaps share in a future post about where you find your herb tincture recipes for your medicine cabinet? No hurry, of course, with you taking care of your beloved family.
Appreciating all the time you take for us,
Ruthie

August 6, 2020 - 3:02 pm

Debby in Kansas USA I’ve had that happen to me, as well. Isn’t it so wonderful to know He’s always listening? When househunting for the very first time, it was depressing! We couldn’t find anything. Either it didn’t meet our needs for various reasons or it was too expensive. It was already slim pickings because a large earthquake had damaged so many of the affordable homes. There was a tract of little homes I really liked, close to the train (we only had one car), and walking distance to many things. The particular model that we wanted and we could afford was rarely for sale and we waited and waited. After many months, we were about to give up and settle but our agent called to say that a sale just posted on the model we wanted just an hour before. I closed my eyes and said, “Lord, let us know if this is the right one. Somehow. You know I love forest green carpet and I’ve got ivy dishes.” We immediately went to see it. Yup, you guessed it. It was the home we wanted. Great location, forest green carpet, and the shelf paper in the kitchen was ivy!! Not only that but it was nearly $30,000 less than we were expecting!!!

August 5, 2020 - 11:43 pm

Rachel Thank you for sharing this story! God does hear our prayers “if we ask.” I love the fact that you will now think of God when you see your clothespins! I try to match up God’s word with my environment whether it be in nature or an object.

August 4, 2020 - 11:49 pm

jen This is a fantastic example of God’s faithfulness. This week, my good friend lost the diamond from her wedding ring. She thought she had lost it in Costco- and even some people tried to help her scour the floor for it when she noticed it missing while returning something. She went home and tore her home apart thinking, maybe just maybe the diamond had gotten caught in her fitted sheet when she was changing the bedding on her bed. Still to no avail, she just prayed about it, not really having faith that she would find it as she thought it was gone gone. Low and behold, as she emptied her clothes from the washer to the dryer she heard a clunk. It was her diamond!!! She couldn’t believe it! I told her her story reminded me of the parable of the woman losing her coin. God is so good and knows what we need when we need it!!

August 4, 2020 - 5:43 pm

Kristal Oh, I love, love, love this story. I was just sharing with my husband my anxiety over his work and planning today. He is a school teacher and is supposed to start school in just a few weeks, but he still has not received any news from the school district on what that will look like (meaning in person or online). It’s so easy to let the enemy take captive my thoughts during this time, but your story is a prime example that the Lord has us in his hands. My worries are his and he will provide exactly what we need this year, no matter how that might look for us. Thanks for always pointing us back to the Lord, Gillian. P.s. I’m glad you got your clothespins! Sometimes it’s the small things that mean the most.