I Just Want My Stain Stick Back

I am the stain master--or rather I used to be.  

Got that white shirt completely spotless!

There wasn't a stain I couldn't get out. We lived on a cul-de-sac and I was known as the stain master. One Saturday before Easter, Sarah Katherine went with the neighbors to an Easter egg hunt. They were horrified at the red kool-aid down the front of her Easter bunny smocked dress. "No problem," I told them. And it wasn't--by the next afternoon the dress was washed, ironed and hanging back in the closet. The truth is it wasn't hard. Every night while the children played in the bath, I sat on the floor and rubbed stain stick on all the Georgia clay, red juice, grass stains, ketchup, mustard, chocolate--you get the picture. Then I'd toss the clothes in the hamper where they'd sit until I washed them.

For really tough stains I soaked them in a bucket with oxy clean sometimes for over a week. I never failed--NEVER.

Four weeks ago Caroline came home from her job at camp with some mud stains on her khaki shorts. No problem--now I was pretty sure I had to jump straight to the tough stain routine. I soaked them for 24 hours, washed and voila--or rather not voila--still stained. So I put them back in for another soak (without drying them...that would be a disaster) and let them sit for a week. Pulled them out, washed them, and---ugh! The stain was still there!

So off to Kroger I go. Clearly I should have followed the steps of the past--first the stain stick and THEN the oxy clean soak. I wandered up and down the laundry aisle. I could not believe my eyes--there was NO stain stick. None, nadda, nothing, nope, not there. There wasn't even a label where the round, green and red stain stick should be. I texted SK--"I don't think they make stain stick anymore." She replied, "OH NO!!" (She totally gets it--love that girl!) I am not exaggerating when I say I felt slightly sick to my stomach.

I got home and googled stain stick--you're not going to believe this, some rectangular thingy majig came up. Then I went to amazon. Surely they would have it. They said they did---YIPEE! Thank goodness for amazon prime--the next day I gleefully opened the package only to discover THEY LIED!! It was that rectangular thingy that said "Spray and Wash." And for the record, it doesn't work.

These shorts were ruined and my stain removal run was over--I could no longer guarantee I could keep my family's clothes stain free.

I really was sad, and then I started thinking. I can no longer keep all their clothes clean--I no longer have the tools I had, the tool of which I was in control. They are going to have clothes with stains on them and there's nothing I can do about it. I can no longer keep their world stain and wrinkle free.

It's a lot like rearing them. It used to be so easy to keep their world happy and carefree--no stains, no wrinkles. No permanent spots. I was in control. I made the decisions, and I got to erase the "mistakes" they made. That didn't last long...

Now I have to sit back and watch. I have to see them taking risks, trying new things, messing up sometimes and I can't stop it or fix it. I have to see that some choices they make could leave lasting stains--some things they may then discard and move on, but other stains may stay with them forever.

But here's something I do know, here's something that most days I can fully trust. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) In ALL things--the stainless and the stained. God doesn't cause the stains, but God can bring good through them. Even the toughest, ugliest, dirtiest stains can be made new through God.

The disciples asked Jesus, "Who then can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:25-26) 

I'm not in control--truth is I never was (shh don't say that too loudly I still like to live in my fantasy world sometimes), but God is.

But I do still miss my stain stick....