Lord of all pots and pans and things, make me a saint by getting meals and washing up the plates! Brother Lawrence
Last night’s chicken and roasted vegetables dirtied two sharp knives, a cutting board, two bowls, two plates, ten pieces of silverware, a spatula and a roasting pan. Yesterday’s breakfast produced two coffee cups, a French press, a pour-over, two bowls, two plates, and a handful of silverware; lunch brought a sauce pan, two water glasses, and three bowls. Our daily bread brings with it our daily dirty dish duty.
This work has to be done, and this work will never be done. I can see it as pointless – rolling a boulder up a hill with Sisyphus only to see it roll back down – or I can see it as a built in opportunity to give thanks for the lives of all the people who grow the food I put on the table, the bounty of the land that offers it, and the blessing of the people who gather with me to eat it.
And I can be grateful to my husband, Dave, who does the dishes as often as I do…
This is one in an ongoing series. For more information, click the Three P’s above.
I am the chief dishwasher in our home—since Pam is the chief cook. The food we eat each day is the best and most important moment—a sacrament for sure. So the gift I offer back is to wash all the dishes and—with Br. Lawrence—all those pots and pans.
We have a similar arrangement – whoever cooks doesn’t do the dishes. Friends of ours used to do the dished together when they were at their beach house – something lost when they turned it into their primary residence and installed a dishwasher. Doing dishes isn’t the most glamorous of jobs, but it seems to bring with it a certain grace. Thanks, David! peace, Johnna