Finding God in the Dishes

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time...Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Read

Ecclesiastes 3:9-11 says quite a bit in just 3 verses. Get away by yourself and really think about what Solomon is telling us in this passage.

Think

Following Solomon's thought up to this point, there doesn't seem to be much purpose or meaning in the day to day monotony of life. We work, we eat, we die, then someone else receives our inheritance and does the same. Factor in some of the hard things of life, and it really doesn't make sense at all. But God makes everything beautiful in its time. Even the most mundane of tasks has purpose and meaning when we consider that God has appointed us to that job for a reason. Even as boring, repetitive, and meaningless a task as doing the dishes is beautiful when we realize that God's presence is always with us, and He is always working for our good, if we will only recognize it. Brother Lawrence called it "finding God in the dishes."

We sense that something is there, ready to fulfill our deepest desire, though we can't quite put our finger on what it is. We continue to work, we continue the cycle of futility, in the attempt to find the fulfillment that will only come when we see eternity. God has written eternity in our hearts, and as mysterious as it is, we know that we were made for more than what we see in this life. We know that all is not as it should be. And we set our hope by faith on the idea that this desire will be fulfilled, and that all will be made right in the end.

Life is not empty and random and godless, but full and precisely aligned and God-ordained. It's not that your most important work is meaningless; it's that your most trivial moments are also significant.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

Pray

Be quiet for a moment and think about the idea that God is right there with you, right now, surrounding you with love and wanting to draw you to Himself. Express your feelings to Him in this moment.

Do

As you go about your normal tasks this week, try to imagine that they are appointed for some great purpose, and don't forget that God is always at work in you, even when you're doing the dishes.