Dirty Dish Prayer List

Awhile ago my dishwasher decided to stop working.  I called in a repairman who couldn’t get it to work, suggested a new one, and charged me $50.  He also said before we got a new one we needed to have some electrical work done.  My husband touched the dishwasher that night and it miraculously started working, but it’s been given to occasional temperamental behavior so I’ve stopped using it altogether except as the world’s largest dish drying rack.  This means I spend a lot of time everyday at the kitchen sink, staring at the minty green wall in front of me.

It has actually been surprisingly convenient because I never have to wait for the dishwasher to be full to run a cycle, which means I never have dirty utensil that I am waiting to use.  But it has required additional time out of my day and so to best utilize that time I put a message board on the wall in front of me and having been listing prayer requests.  Now I pray over those dirty dishes for friends and family who are facing trials.  If you’ve recently exposed a concern to me, I have probably prayed about it while scrubbing away at finger-smudged glasses and stubbornly stained casserole dishes.

I have been wanting to share the idea on the blog for a couple of weeks now, but other than presenting it as a good idea, I couldn’t think of much more to write about.  Until today.

The funny thing with washing the dishes after every meal is the monotony of the dishes used.  Where it used to be that dirty breakfast dishes were waiting patiently in the dishwasher to be joined by dirty lunch dishes, now I often take the clean breakfast dishes from the dishwasher and use them for lunch and the same happens at dinner.  For this reason we don’t rotate through as many plates and cups as we once did.  It’s really the epitome of motherhood.  We clean up, just to get dirty again and just when we are satisfied with what we have accomplished, somebody needs a drink of water… or spills something on their shirt… or dumps the toy bin.  And then it’s time for dinner.

So this morning while washing the breakfast dishes and bemoaning how it would be a mere three hours before I would be wiping down the same Disney princess plate, it occurred to me how monotonous sin can be in our life.  And what a good practice regular prayer was to wipe that slate clean.  Because I know what it’s like to let the dishes pile up through the day and the task is much more daunting then.
 
Just as it is a given that a day will lead to dirty dishes and laundry that will require tending, it is just as likely that my day will become mired with my sins and Somebody will have to clean up after me.  In any given day, I face the trials of losing my temper, thinking unkind thoughts, serving myself, giving into laziness and gluttony, and a whole host of other unattractive dirt.

It’s funny how my prayer list over the dirty dishes included everybody but myself.  As if I might have it altogether!  (Pardon the long pause while I laugh at the irony a bit)…
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The truth is we all need to be wiped clean daily from the build-up of living in a world of sin.  “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”  Acts 3:19

One more comparison that I would like to make with dirty dishes and sin.  Have you ever done a sink of dishes only to get to that pesky last casserole dish that is caked with burned cheese and you think, maybe it would just be easier to let it soak for a bit?  So you put it in the water and leave it there over night only to be faced with it in the morning and now you have murky water with floaty cheese bits and you dread sticking your hand in there because who knows what else is lurking?  No?!  You haven’t?  *Ahem* Me either.  But let’s imagine for a moment that you have had that experience.  And let’s imagine that instead of dishes, we’re talking sin.

Sometimes, it’s easy to approach those obvious “little” sins and say, “I’m done with that!”  We wash them up and pack them away, content to never use them again.  And then there is the casserole dish sin.  The one that’s a little more cooked in and requires a lot more work and we decide to just let it soak for a bit because it sounds easier than approaching the disaster head-on and investing a little more time and energy.  But it’s never any prettier in the morning, is it?  Those sins might require a little steel wool scrubbing, but it’s best just to get it over with.  What an assurance we have in Christ that, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  1 John 1:9

And now that I have completed this task, onward to some dirty dishes and laundry!  Please feel free to email me or comment below if you would like to be included on the Dirty Dish Prayer List!