Doing the Dishes

Doing the dishes is my least favorite chore. It takes a lot of elbow grease to get the food off, you have to get your hands all wet(and sometimes soapy), and then you have to wipe up all the water that you splashed on the counter, cabinets, and floor. Ugh! Ok, I’ve had my rant. In all seriousness though, I am trying to work on my attitude. In fact, after something that God recently showed me, I will never look at a dish the same way again.

Last Sunday (8/4), I helped my mom do the dishes after a large meal at our church and, after a while, someone came into the kitchen and offered to help us. Soon, others were pitching in to help with various cleanup tasks that needed doing. There was no tension or conflict, all was peaceful and harmonious. As I absorbed this camaraderie, my heart smiled.

Through these observations, the Lord impressed on me that it is the most menial tasks that draw believers closest to each other and closest to Hi . Chores like cooking and cleaning remind us of the basic needs we share like nutrition and sanitation. We could not function without these needs being met and, yet, we cannot meet them on our own. We are completely dependent on outside objects/tools and/or other people. This is a very humbling thought and it is from this vantage point that we can more clearly see an even more important truth: If we cannot meet our physical needs without outside assistance, how could we ever have the wisdom and power to meet our spiritual needs?

In the end then, all of these things focus our attention on the One Who meets our every need. Our agendas and plans fade away because, now, they seem pointless and useless. With our selves disarmed, we have more love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are more eager to help meet their needs because we, too, have those needs and we know what it is like to be in want in those areas. We are God’s dirty dishes. We are all in need of cleaning and only God can truly clean us. However, it blesses God’s heart when we allow Him to use us to clean each other.

When we are humble enough to pick up a fellow food-encrusted dish, willing enough to get our hands wet and dirty from the sometimes messy process of bearing another’s burden, and compassionate enough to apply the soap of God’s love and grace to the hard-to-get spots, we are truly glorifying our God and Savior. Indeed, when we dry that dish with the dish towel of peace - when we wipe across the fresh, clean surface for the last time -, we see, not our reflection in it, but God’s.