Disclaimer: This post may not relate to all of you.
However, if you’re like me and you hate doing dishes, you came to the right place. If doing dishes makes you want to fling your plates across the room, this is the post for you.
Doing the dishes is high on my list of least favorite chores – though I’ll be the first to admit, it’s a long list.
Unfortunately for me and for Seth, I’m not one of those people who is motivated to clean by the prospects of a sparkly-clean home. I don’t like to live in filth, and I’ll clean when needed, but a few dirty dishes in the sink doesn’t bother me. Especially not when I think about the task that needs to be completed before they are clean again. Seth is often the one to clean. He does the dishes more than I do.
Since moving into our apartment, we do have a dishwasher. We didn’t have one before, so that’s nice. Still, large dishes gather in the sink and sometimes I’m the one left standing in front of them, feeling hostile towards the dishes who’ve really done nothing to make me angry.
I’m ashamed to put this in writing, but a couple of weeks ago, I had a bit of a dish-washing meltdown. A mixing bowl slipped from my soapy hands back into the sink and I couldn’t pick it back up. I got frustrated, and accidentally hit the faucet handle. The sink water immediately turned scalding hot and burned my hand. I yelled.
Seth called out from the other room to ask if I was okay, and I told him I was fine. More than anything, I was embarrassed at my childlike reaction. I remembered a prayer my friend’s mother sent to me, soon after Seth and I got married.
It’s the “Kitchen Prayer,” attributed to Brother Lawrence. Brother Lawrence spent decades of his life working in a kitchen at a monastery. In doing so, Brother Lawrence gained so much wisdom about what it means to serve and love in every season of life.
I immediately wrote out Brother Lawrence’s prayer on an index card and taped it above our kitchen sink.
And now, here’s my own kitchen prayer. Here’s my own new secret to doing the dishes without losing my mind.
Jesus of everything, even these dirty dishes, right now, I’m here at my kitchen sink. I’m not out preaching to the crowd or clothing the naked or serving the poor. I’m here. So please Lord, help me to be faithful in this. Give me patience. Know that all I do, even this, I do for You. Amen.
It’s that simple. The best part is, if your least favorite chore isn’t doing dishes – if it’s laundry or vacuuming or cleaning the bathroom – the prayer still applies. Just change the words around.
May all that we do be service unto Him, and with that, may we find joy even in the most menial of tasks.
And never forget… you are onederfully created.
Love,
Becca
