Work In Progress

I can’t think of a better feeling than something being done.  Like finished.  Like you worked so hard on this particular goal or project and now it is complete.  I mean, that is good stuff.  But then there are other things…things that you complete, but then they just come right back…things that are never really done.  Like doing the dishes.

You know what I am talking about…you rinse and wash, you load the dishwasher, you hand wash whatever doesn’t fit, you dry and put away…and then you finally step back, feeling happy and satisfied with a job well done.  

And that’s usually when it happens…someone places a dirty dish in the sink!

Back when I was growing up, I remember a poem my mom kept pinned to the cabinet next to the kitchen sink.  The poem begins, “Thank God for dirty dishes.” 

Now, allow me to digress in a Sophia Petrillo moment as I offer you this backstory.  Picture it: the backwoods of Louisiana, 1989.  There were seven of us kids and not much to go around.  We did the best we could with what we had and that’s not saying much.  I was grateful…well, as grateful as a kid could be…but I can assure you of one thing…never was I ever thankful for a sink full of dirty dishes!

Honestly, I did not understand that poem at all.  “Thank God for dirty dishes.” Are you kidding me? As I stood at the kitchen sink, warm soapy water running all the way down to my elbows, soaking the ends of my pushed up sleeves, I was anything but thankful.  Looking at the pile of pots and pans, stacked plates and endless silverware, being thankful for the task at hand was not on my to-do list.  I usually felt irritated looking up from the mountain of mess up to the tattered pinned up poem.  Thankful for dirty dishes…ha!

But isn’t life like that at times…like a sink full of dirty dishes?  You get through one batch and then here comes another.  You make it through one task, project, struggle, or heartache, and it isn’t long before you are face to face with the next one.

I often find myself just wanting to be “done.”  Like done with this chore, done with this trial.  Done with this season, done with this struggle.

But then what happens?  Life.  It continues to go on.

We finish the laundry, then the kids take a bath.

We wrap up a meal, then someone is hungry again.

We get that job, then we start thinking about that promotion.

We lose those five pounds, then we have to work to keep it off.

We get attached, then we suffer a loss.

We repair that relationship, then we continue to keep it growing.

We get through one treatment, then there are 15 more to go.

That’s life and that’s progress and I believe that’s the way it’s supposed to be.  

Now that I am grown, and not so irritated about the dishes, I have been able to bring myself to read the rest of the poem:

Thank God for dirty dishes;

They have a tale to tell.

While others may go hungry,

We’re eating very well.

With home, health, and happiness

I shouldn’t want to fuss;

By the stack of evidence,

God’s been very good to us.

I know every day to look for the “evidence” of what’s been given to us.  The truth is, there’s always something to be grateful for, something that is a gift, something that is more than we deserve.  Yes, we have to do some work, do our part, and that’s where we can make some progress.  The truth is, whether you are talking about a pile of dirty dishes or something of the like, it shows we have been blessed and that we are well fed!