Washing Dishes

Just before Christmas our dishwasher made some clunking sounds and ground to a halt.  It was hard to find a dishwasher repairman who could come before Christmas, but finally a kind man did agree to check it out.  Within a couple of minutes he turned to me and said that we should probably pretend that he had never come because he did not think that it would be worth repairing.  He didn't want to charge me for the service call.  The cost of repairs would be almost the same as a new dishwasher.   The dishwasher was only a couple of years old, but runs frequently each day and has not always been stacked as it should with several broken dishes and glass circulating at times that has probably contributed to the problems. All part of the cost of trying to include kids and teach life skills! The  predecessor of this dishwasher did not last long either.  It seems that either we are not careful enough or have had a run of bad luck in dishwashers.  We decided to give the idea of using a dishwasher a break.

For the last month we have been washing dishes by hand.  Over Christmas with many visitors and lots of big meals that was quite a feat, but also a time for great community building dish washing among us all.   I have had lots of quiet time by the sink by myself as well.  With my hands in the warm water, I look out over our garden with several bare trees reaching up to the sky.   Lately their shapes have been highlighted with a beautiful white outline of frost.  Some days they barely emerge from the fog and others they form stark shapes with a background of blue, pink and purples as the sun rises and sets.  I am gaining a new appreciation for the stark and pared down simplicity of winter.  The trees unadorned  have a unique dignity and grace that fills my often barren soul with hope.

In these days my mind often wanders to the solid wisdom of the saints of old.   One of the people who has been very  influential in my life spent most of  his life washing dishes.  Brother Lawrence was an obscure lay monk in France in the 1600's.  He wrote of his love for God in his writings now titled, "Practice of the Presence of God."  For Lawrence, the most simple and ordinary acts of service were opportunities to worship and praise God and to bask in His love.  He continually turned his attention to God, aware of God's tender care and loving attention in all things.  He abandoned himself to God, knowing God's delight in treasuring him and filling him with Himself.  While doing simple and mundane tasks, he practiced simply resting in God and presenting himself to God to be shaped more and more in His image.  While there were initially times of deep struggle for Lawrence, he came to the place where his life was simply filled with God. Faith in God was all that he needed to live a life full of love, joy and rest.  He was deeply at peace in the love and care of God.

In the simple slowness of washing dishes and doing ordinary tasks I am learning from Lawrence to appreciate the stark simplicity of these winter trees outside my window that remind me of the foundational truths of my faith in God.  In the cycles of all the stages of life, leaves and flowers come and go, but God is constant.  I am practicing His presence,  turning my thoughts inwardly to Him in secret conversation of the soul, joyfully resting in His love and care and  delighting in being with Him.  It is not always easy or natural to turn my thoughts to God, but it is making all the difference in my life and is bringing much  sincere joy and peace that is not dependent on all the changing externals of my days.