Ode to OxiClean?

Well...not exactly an ode.  An ode would require a complex scheme of rhyme and meter.  That will not be happening here today. 

But, I will express some exalted emotion within the confines of this blog - that's the other stuff that makes an ode and ode. And I will begin by "oding" (pretty sure that's not a real word) to OxiClean.

I thank my good friend, Barb, for introducing me some years back to the wonders of OC, and I could practically write an ode to her because of it.  It's so great that I spent an entire baseball season feeling immense pride when other moms would say, "How do you get the boys pants so white?!  It looks like they haven't ever played in them!"

A couple of problems here:  1)  Only a man would pick the color white for baseball pants.  Especially when the game is being played on some Mississippi mud.  The real stuff, not the dessert. Though the dessert would stain as well, I'm sure.  2)  I found out much later that my boys weren't as proud of the pants as the grown-ups were.  They also told me it looked like they hadn't ever played in them...which baseball playing boys don't think is cool at all.


So, I love OxiClean.  Anyone who knows me well, knows this to be true.  I think I've even woven it into a pre-Thanksgiving Sunday morning message before.  There's no way around it.  Awesome.

But, being that it is Spring Break here in my little corner of Kansas, I have been thinking about cleaning a lot.  Did you catch that?  "Thinking" about cleaning a lot...not necessarily cleaning a lot.  Anyway, as I periodically pick up around the house - which, by the way, needs more picking up than usual since the whole gang's here - I am reminded of so many things.  Most of all things to be grateful for.  Things greater than my beloved OxiClean.

I'm a winter fan.  I love snow.  I love to be cold.  I typically am one of those people who can get along with anyone...but, if I have to be in the heat for extended periods of time, I can make Santa cry.  However, there is something about spring and a cool - not cold - breeze blowing through the house that makes me happy.  My step quickens and I want the home God has given me to be tidy and comfortable.  As I wash clothes (yes, with OC) I thank God for the appliances I have and the people who wear the mounds of material I will be cramming in said appliances.  I happily dust off "Blue Bell", my trusty bike, and zip around the metropolis of Altamont, waving to every person I pass. All around can probably hear me humming as I thank God for such a sweet place to call "my hometown." 

Sure, I come back from my ride and remember there are bills to pay, lesson plans to make (school will resume on Monday whether I like it or not) and that two of my boys will be gone by the weekend...which seemed much further away just a day or two ago.   And these are just minor things I face, nobody needs me to go into the "heavy" stuff on such a lovely day.  But, here I am...thinking about OxiClean and...God.

I sing the praises of OxiClean because it has the power to take away stains from things that only have a temporal value in our home.  In other words, OC may clean, but it merely delays the inevitable.  Clothes don't last forever.  This isn't going to be an eloquent tie-in...it's Spring Break, for Pete's sake!  But, I do immediately think of the hand of God in my life...cleaning, fixing, healing and helping.  And He doesn't simply delay an inevitable end...He carries us to an incredible future.  Don't you feel exalted emotion just thinking about it? Ode-lay!

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