i do a LOT of dishes...approximately twice as much as before i got married (go figure). now, don't interpret this as a critique of beau's dish washing prowess...he is at work all day and my schedule is "different." i don't HAVE to go to work at 6:30 a.m. and i get to go in WHEN i have work to do or a person to visit....then i get to be flexible and work on my sermons at home....so, it is only fair that i should do most of the dishes...
it is interesting though - every time i do the dishes, i feel such a compulsive sense of accomplishment and something akin to joy. even though, if i were to think for a moment, i would realize that there WILL be dishes in the sink again...and soon. and yet, somehow it does not get me down because - dog-gone-it...there are no dishes in the sink right now. i think this is how we are to be with our spiritual lives...as we constistently fall before the Father with our selfish hearts, half-truths, and short comings - we are cleansed and renewed....that does not mean that we will not fall short again, but it also does not mean we can wallow in the fact that we will - most likely fall short again, and soon. it gives us hope that we can be made whole as often as we encounter Christ....and a renewed passion to be further transformed into His image and not have to fall short in quite the same old ways...
there is an excellent book on dishes and various other forms of "women's work" - Kathleen Norris' Quotidian Mysteries - she explores what it means to do the dirty work of working out our salvations with fear and trembling...the little things that we do that may seem insignificant, but that can actually bring us deeper into relationship with Christ. check it out.
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