Life can be interesting. There are always things that happen to change your plans or bring attention to issues that need to be addressed, but if you let it, they can be growing experiences that benefit you in ways you never could have anticipated.
Last week, my family was working on doing some routine cleaning tasks, and the request went out for someone to start a load of laundry. It turns out, someone put in a large load of socks (thanks, son!)– which, by the way, were already clean and were being put off sorting for “another day.”
Of course, now that they were wet, the issue of needing to sort and pair socks was placed at the forefront of the to-do list. This had not been in anyone’s plans, and it re-arranged some other things on the schedule, but everyone sat down to do the job.
Before long, there were comments and quips being thrown out that had everyone laughing. Now, it took a long time to get that whole load of socks matched up – especially when you realize after the fifth or sixth try to match a sock that not every one of them had a mate in the batch. But, I’m proud of my kids and my husband: they were all happily working on the job – not because it was all that fun of a task, but because instead of turning the situation into a grumbling match, there was a lot of laughter and good humor which everyone was able to share.
I even came up with a joke of my own out of the deal. Here goes: “I am really good at math. I know, because I work a problem and check it twice. I even check it a third time, and I get the same answer every time…I found out my math teacher doesn’t agree.”

Okay, then! I thought it was funny, and my family cracked some laughs, but after thinking on it, I think my little story has a serious side that can demonstrate a little bit about life.
We live in a world which is largely run by local governments which in turn have public boards who are responsible for carrying out specific tasks to oversee various elements of the governmental wheel that keeps our society moving along. The members of the boards and the councils, rightly so, are mostly volunteers. They are part of the community – your neighbors, friends, or even family. And I don’t know one of them that doesn’t try to do their best at the task they were assigned – and oftentimes the tasks they are assigned are a bit daunting, and nobody wants to have to do them.
However, somebody has got to do the job and make the decisions, trying the whole time to follow the rules set forth by the rule of law. Sometimes they get a whole load of socks dumped in front of them and told they have to sort all of them out and make a decision. (I can tell you, after a few wears-and-washes, some groups of socks look a little alike, but yet different enough to question whether or not they match. Eventually a decision has to be made to do something less than perfect, wait for a match that might not ever be found, or to toss the whole thing away in the rag pile.)
While people in the government are not actually sorting socks: what they are doing is much more serious and not a laughing matter, but the analogy rings true in some cases. Board and council members have a tough job. They don’t always get it right – even if they think they did (I refer to the math joke above). And sometimes there is no right answer, but there has to be a decision of some sort made.
In the whole process of keeping the wheels of society running, the boards are who people look to be the problem-solvers. People comment, “somebody’s got to fix this,” or “somebody’s got to do something.” Those “somebodies” are your neighbors who have volunteered or been appointed to a board to determine the direction of our local government and where to spend public funds. They are the gatekeepers, and I would like to encourage them to do the best they can do. Do the math, check it twice. You may not always make the best choice, and in hindsight find you made a few mistakes along the way, but more often than not, when you look back at decisions and steps taken, you’ll find you did more things right than wrong.
Neighbors, be willing to show grace and mercy to these volunteers who care enough to stick their neck out for no return except for the satisfaction of being one of the few who are willing to at least try to “do something” to keep life going as smooth as possible for the community. And thanks to the public who are willing to ask tough questions and respect the answer they hear even if it’s not what they want to hear.
In my notebook, I’d like to officially write, “Thanks, volunteers.”
Keep working at folding those socks and hopefully you’ll find more matches than rags.