A Lesson Learned: by Robin Thomas
Did you know that it takes an advanced degree to empty the dishwasher?
It must be true because out of my entire household I seem to be the only one that has
the credentials. As a result, at any given time there will be dishes piled high in the sink, which by the way, must require another set of advanced skills because I seem to be the only one that knows how to wash the items that will not go in the dishwasher. “Whistle while you work” they say. Well, honestly, it makes me want to sucker punch SNOW WHITE.
As I steep in my resentment I am convicted by the scripture,
“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, DO IT ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD.” (I Cor 10:31)
Why? Because I am not doing the dishes for the other members of my family. I am doing it for God. It's not the action, it's the offering.
Why do I get so resentful when dishes are left in the sink? Because my JOY is misplaced. If I find my joy in a spotless kitchen (okay, so maybe not spotless, but let’s go with relatively clean) then I am seeking joy in the wrong place. It’s not in the action, it’s in the offering.
The chorus by Will Reagan (United Pursuit) keeps running through my head, “I can feel YOU lifting up the weight of the world...You are my joy…”
If I place my self-worth and source of JOY in temporal things (Lord knows a clean sink is only temporal), or other people, they WILL fail me. Not because they want to, but because they are fallible beings who have a whole myriad of things that will also disappoint them.
Instead, I started to think about that sink full of dishes as memories.
Say what? Well, three mugs means that my daughter and her friends had a good time drinking their tea or Café Mocha. The plates represent the food that my son ate from the meal I made last night because he liked it. And the baking bowl and utensils represent the cookies that were baked with love to share with a family that delights when they see that they have been made.
I found a little rhyme that seems to sum it up pretty well:
So I guess SNOW WHITE was actually on to something.
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