I have shared this before, but I truly enjoy doing dishes by hand.  The warm water is relaxing, it reminds me of doing dishes with my brothers, and I believe the dishes are cleaner. I have a regular drainboard that sits on the counter, but usually I use the dishwasher as a drainboard. It is spacious and I can close the door and don’t have to see them while they dry.  Putting them away is one of the jobs the children do. Sometimes, I have them help me with washing and rinsing.  My 10-year old daughter was rinsing and setting them in the dishwasher with me the other day and asked some interesting questions.  Well, interesting to me.

She asked me why I scrub the inside of the cup but only wipe the outside.  She asked me why I spend so much time scrubbing the lip of the cup.  She asked why I don’t just use the dishwasher so I could do something else while it cleans the dishes. Very good questions. Maybe if I weren’t such an analytical person who loves to see the little things as big teaching lessons, I would have answered like my parents and just said, “because”.  I don’t believe she was asking to get out of rinsing. Her and her brother often fight over who gets to help me because they know it means they have me to themselves and can talk about whatever.  I believe she truly wanted to know. Maybe because she is a perfectionist and was wanting to take notes on doing dishes the “right” way.  Regardless, I was ready with an answer.  Most things I can see from a biblical perspective almost immediately.

I scrub the inside of the cup because that is where the drink was; the stuff that dirtied the cup. I scrub the lip because that is where our tongue touches it. The Bible is very clear about the power of the tongue and how it can bring death. Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”  I merely wipe the outside with the cloth simply because it isn’t as “dirty” as the inside.  Matthew 23:26 “You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.” NLT  I am pretty sure Jesus wasn’t talking about doing the dishes.  But, it applies nonetheless.  We are so worried about the outside of our cup; our outside appearance we forget about the inside.  Jeremiah 17:9 states, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”  If our heart is the most deceitful (dirtiest) shouldn’t we spend more time “cleaning” it.  After all, it is the key part of our insides.  Look at the cover of most magazines and you will see a lot of polished “cups”, but we don’t see their hearts.  Make-up companies don’t care about how you feel on the inside.  They convince you that their product will make you beautiful.  If it WILL (future tense) make you beautiful, then what are you now? Ugly?  Make-up will NEVER conceal an ugly heart.  And yet we expect pastors and their wives to look perfect.  We expect all the cool lighting and smoke machines if a church wants us to find them relevant.  Relevant to what, a nightclub?  Those that attend the Crystal Cathedral are no more holy than those in a 100-year old church in the country?  We can sing along to the latest worship song, with the best musicians, words on a screen, and awesome background videos, but it means nothing if our heart is dirty and weary with sin.  Amazing Grace is just a song until it is sung by the heart that painfully and humbly knows His grace.  A church is just a building until it builds community–community with God and with others.

My 6-year old son turned to me the other day as I was teaching him vowel sounds, brushed my cheek with his hand, and said, “Mommy, I really like your hair that way. You are so prettiful!” Mind you, I had not showered in two days. I had no make up on.  My hair was in a clip with a headband keeping my bangs out of my face and I was probably still in my pajamas.  Why did he find me so “prettiful”?  Because I was engaged with him.  I was putting my undivided attention on him.  My heart was lovingly teaching him.  There was no phone, no mindless game, and no TV distracting me.  I could look like Fiona the Ogre and be loved as long as my heart was being kind.  I could look like People Magazine’s World’s Most Beautiful Woman and be feared by my children from the anger and frustration in my heart.  I chose Fiona.

So, why not use the dishwasher and spend that dish washing time doing something else?  I didn’t grow up in an automated world.  We did have a dishwasher growing up. We only used it during canning season to sterilize the Ball jars.  My five brothers and I were the dish washers.  I didn’t grow up with DVR, instant messaging, online ordering, or even the Internet.  We have become such an instant-gratification, automated society that we don’t even know how to do real life with other people.  Ephesians 5:1 reads, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.”  Did God take the easy way when saving us from our sins? Jesus doesn’t think so.  Did Jesus take the easy way out as He hung on the cross?  He could have called on legions of angels to battle for Him, but He didn’t.  We have drive-thru churches. If you don’t believe me, google it.  We can give tithes and offerings via text.  We don’t even have to leave our home and associate with other humans to “attend” church.  We can watch live streams on YouTube.  We can watch one of many  different Evangelists on the television. Our phones give us the Psalm of the Day.  These are all nice conveniences.  But, should they replace traditional church?  There is a place for this technology.  This past Sunday I was actually grateful for YouTube.  A lot of our town was flooded and the roads around us were closed.  From our kitchen table we could hear our pastor sharing The Word. We could join in worship.  Technology allows the bedridden, those far from a church to hear The Word.  But they still need other human contact. My friend, Lily, puts it this way, “While you’re included, you are not involved.” You can listen to the full message at lillianday.blog, “The Problem with Social Media”.

Hebrews 10:25  “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”  We were made for community.  We are called to meet, gather together, and encourage each other.  How can we do that when our electric garage door opener means I never have to be outside where my neighbor might see me and want to talk.  The internet allows us to order virtually everything and it will be delivered to our door.  According to a report by Forbes magazine in February of 2013, one in five Americans works from home.  In the ten-year period from 2003 to 2012, the number of American children 5 through 17 years old who were being homeschooled by their parents climbed by 61.8 percent, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Education.  I have nothing against any of those things.  I order online.  I homeschool my children.  The problem is that we have become so comfortable without community.  Joshua 1:9 reassures me. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  God is in constant contact with me.  He is always with me.  He is not a feeling. He is a presence!  Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”  See, we are better together.  We are stronger together.

With that said, the reason I don’t use the dishwasher is because if I am in the kitchen my family will be in the kitchen.  If I am doing dishes it means that we had food to eat.  That means we could practice Luke 22:19.  If I am doing dishes, somebody usually joins me to have that alone time with me to talk and ask a billion questions.  If I am cooking, my husband is almost always by my side. So, to answer her question about how I could be doing something else; I am doing something else.  The kitchen is where intimacy starts according to my husband.  Because that is where communion, breaking bread, remembering Him starts.  Intimacy with God and family.  Think about your family gatherings.  Where does everyone usually end up?  The kitchen.  I never feel that the time I spend washing dishes by hand is wasted.  On those rare occasions that I am alone in the kitchen, my mind can relax and drift off.  I don’t have to be a mommy or wife.  I can just be me; a fearfully and wonderfully made child of God.  In that quiet, He always speaks to me.  A lot of my writing is born while my hands are cleaning the inside of cups.

I pray that when I give; I give completely and not just conveniently.  I pray that when you need prayer, I will pray for you right then and there.  I pray you will not be a 30-second afterthought as I slip into bed exhausted from the day.  I pray that when I serve, it be out of a heart of gratitude and not for self.  I pray that I will not look for the path of least resistance but the path of the righteous.  I pray that I not hide in my garage from the neighbors I am commanded to love.  I pray that I not get so caught up in the conveniences of this world that I forget the convictions of my faith.

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