Finding Help with Dress Shirts and Life’s Problems
August 8th, 2009 | 
Author: I love my job. I work in clothing retail where I help people decide what to buy and be friendly to everyone. They pay me to do that! When I first started there, I was surrounded by great employees who had worked there from months to years and they all wanted me to succeed.
One task that scared me when I first started was refolding the dress shirts. The store folds the ones on display expertly. I was genuinely afraid of trying to figure out how to do my share of refolding shirts customers try on. Josh, one of the employees, told me early on to, “Just follow the creases, that’s what I do.” In other words, the shirts had visible, deep creases, and all I needed to do was refold along them to get the shirt looking as good as it was supposed to. That didn’t stop me from the occasional mess up, but Josh kept repeating the same words, “Just fold along the creases, that’s what I do.”
When a new employee came on I overheard Josh telling him, “I just fold along the creases.” I went up to Josh and sarcastically said, “that’s just your life motto isn’t it?” He said, “yeah,” we laughed about it and kept going.
I’m not about to write a book on it, but if there is a pattern to folding a shirt based on creases, there is a pattern to life based on this wisdom.
I learned from a very young age that I had not had a significant life problem that someone else didn’t already have. Someone else made the creases. I can tread my own way, or I can follow their way (in some cases actually, know what not to do) and bring order, harmony, balance to a chaotic heap.
If I ever get in trouble following a false crease at the store, I definitely get in trouble following someone’s poor insights. If Fred (my imaginary friend) does something amazing, nearly dies, turns to me and says, “That was awesome, I’m doing it again,” I’m going to say Fred hasn’t learned his lesson, and I probably won’t take too much from it.
My parents, on the other hand, aren’t up to date on a lot of technology, music, youth culture, etc., but they do know how relationships work, what’s a strong one, when one is going to fail, and how to recover from a failed one. They know about spiritual rollercoasters; they know about staying motivated. They’re not the only ones, but they’ve made some of the deepest creases in life.
If there is a deeper message in Josh’s message, it is this: You aren’t facing something someone else hasn’t gone through, and chances are, there’s someone close that can help.
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You just compared folding dress shirts to overcoming trials…
Nice job.
I am astounded that you found such insightful meaning in such menial labor as folding laundry. Then again, as I think about it, it’s not so incredible after all; I mean, some of the least educated people have become giants of wisdom. Take Joseph Smith for example: he was a man of little education and yet he is one of the most frequently quoted prophets of the modern dispensation.
Hey David, maybe you’ll be a giant of wisdom someday? ;P
Thanks. I’ll spare you the analogy of the orange and the three degrees of glory. . . . Just kidding. I can’t fathom how those could relate to each other.
There are a variety of different types of oranges and each varies in its amount of sweetness. Going through life, we will come upon many things, or oranges, if you will. Many we will find sour and lacking in the sweetness our spirits crave. The Gospel of Jesus Christ can be likened unto an orange. When we peel away the coating, separate the slices, and taste of each piece, we discover the pure sweetness of its fruits and we crave for more of the same. The three degrees of glory can be thought of as oranges; Sweet, Sweeter, and the Sweetest of all, being the Celestial Degree. The Gopel can guide us in the right direction and allow us to reach the sweetest slice we will ever know.
That was profoundly mind numbing, but you ought to get a medal for it.
I thought it was rather good lol
And I often wonder if this “someone” isn’t so close because God put him or her there at an opportune moment.
Last year I was driving home in a snow storm and lost control of my car. I didn’t quite go into the ditch, but my tires were so crappy that I couldn’t get out.
That said, it was only a few seconds before somebody pulled up and helped me push my car out.
What was the miracle, you ask? Admittedly, I’ve certainly had more spectacular experiences than that, but it was faith-affirming nonetheless. Why? Because it reminded me that Christ relies upon people like you and me to offer a helping hand…and yes, even kindly receive a helping hand now and again.
People like this exist all over the world–people who, when faced with a decision, will invariably do the right thing.
‘jour…beau témoignage, si il y a toujours quelqu’un qui peut nous aider….je ne sais guère si cela est vrai. En tout cas vous avez l’air d’être heureux dans votre travail.