A Clean Heart

I hate it when I let too many meals pass without doing the dishes. This afternoon I looked at the huge piles of dirty dishes in both sinks, and knew I'd have to tackle them right away, so I could enjoy the women's dinner at church tonight without visions of a dirty kitchen plaguing me the whole evening.

While I was administering the cleaning touch to the dishes, I pondered how hard it was, doing a lot of dishes compared to doing them when there are just a few. Even though that means doing it more often. It's like another task most people don't like. Namely, asking forgiveness. Or even offering forgiveness.

Because the longer you wait to ask forgiveness, the harder it is to do. And likewise, the longer you wait to grant forgiveness, the harder it is to accomplish. Sometimes, I let the little hurts and annoyances that come with taking care of a man like mine just pile up too high. So I need to consciously be forgiving him a little at a time.

Fortunately as a reminder for me, Dean asks for forgiveness many times during the day. Does it count when he can't remember what I'm forgiving him for? You bet it does. I think it counts even more, because I know it's coming from his heart, and not just his mind. And it's easy to forgive when it's a heartfelt apology like his.

I like a clean kitchen, but I probably like a clean heart even more.

Being Self-ish

I was so tired after my day in Hastings yesterday that I refused to do the mountain of dishes that filled the kitchen sinks and overflowed to the counters. I was sure it would be easier to do them this morning when I was fresher.

I thought I would be fresh enough to tackle the dreaded chore after taking my nephew to work, watering the garden, uncovering the bird, giving Dean his pills, making some French toast for breakfast, putting some clean clothes away, and getting Dean's clothes and towels ready for his bath. But alas, I felt even more fatigued than the night before!

After checking my blood pressure, I discovered it was low--95/55, the cause of my weakness and fatigue. I know from experience that drinking some water would increase the volume in my blood vessels and bring it back up. This has happened a few times to me this summer. Just not drinking as much as I should for this hot weather, I'm sure.

As caregivers we recognize that we can be so busy taking care of others we fail to take care of ourselves. The preacher Paul shared this concept with us in I Corinthians 9:27 when he said:

"But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."

It's not selfish to look after yourself. It just makes good sense. For ANY ministry.

Mountain of Dishes

I made a breakthrough discovery today, which should lessen the dish washing time for my resident nephew who's been good enough to tackle the dishes every night, even after a hard day at work. This morning when I hopped (yes, still doing the bunny hop) into the kitchen, there was a mountain of dishes and pans, waiting to be washed.

So I pulled a chair over to the sink, bent my knee and used the chair to balance myself, so I could at least make a little headway on the cleanup task. It was awkward, but not painful, and I was very proud of myself for improvising a way to help with such an ugly chore. My nephew seemed very appreciative of my effort.

A lot of times we could be doing more for others, but we see the mountain of need out there, and don't think we are capable of making a difference. With a little thoughtful prayer about it though, we might be able to devise a way to help. It may be awkward, not very effective, and a little unconventional, but it might very well be just the amount of encouragement someone else needs to come in and finish up the work.

After all, isn't this how the various ministries of the church are supposed to work? The church family working together can accomplish much.