Are They Really Just Dirty Dishes?

I just finished reading a very interesting book called “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp. It’s inspiring and yet complicated too.   The author talks about how her faith in God transpired more or less.  I don’t want to oversimplify her book, but I also know you don’t have an extra hour in your day for me to go into too much detail about it.

It’s left me with so many thoughts about faith in general.  How does your faith come to be?  How does it change who you are?  Does it make you stronger or more confident?  So many thoughts.

One of the ideas that touched me was that in our everyday lives, we have an opportunity “to give thanks” in many ways.  For most people, I think it means a special offering of thanks through a prayer or kind deed and voilá we have “given thanks.”  After reading this book, it has really made me think about how I “give thanks” in my daily living with my family and friends.

Give is the key word here.  Give is a verb.  A verb is the action.  This means that to give thanks we must do.  By doing thanks, we are giving thanks away.  When we change our thoughts and actions and do for others, we ourselves are the bearer of the gift and in return receive an abundance of joy that is different from the type of joy you feel after  blowing the candles out on your birthday cake.  Are you still with me?   I know it’s a little deep for a Monday, but it’s been on my mind and just need to put the words somewhere.

If I do what I do with a heart of “giving,” then the task takes on new meaning.  Let me see if I can make this easier to understand. If I do the dishes with a heart of “giving,” then as I scrub out the spaghetti sauce from the pan, I am thinking of my children and how they are fortunate to have had a warm meal.  The greasy pot becomes a vessel for a blessing. If I scrub out the pot and think of how tired I am of soap and dirty dishes it means something else.  My “giving thanks” makes me live thanks. Does that make sense?

Now I know we can’t possibly pause every minute of every day and think how lucky we are to have dirty dishes, but the opportunity is there for our taking and in situation after situation that is presented to us daily.  It’s up to us to give thanks so that our lives are full.

Thanks for letting me ramble a bit.  It’s good to just write some days.  It’s more or less thinking aloud for me and feels so refreshing.   Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a sink full of “thanks” that needs to be tended to.