Dirty Dishes

A few months ago we had a new kitchen fitted in our house. As much as I am delighted with it, the one thing that I have struggled to get used to is the kitchen sink. In my old kitchen I had a massive old fashioned belfast sink. It sat on top of four ceramic legs and was a main feature in the room. I could hide plenty of dirty dishes, pots and pans inside it and it was great for rinsing the leftover food etc off of plates before I washed them in the basin that sat inside. My new sink is a normal size, it's lovely and clean with no cracks or marks that refuse to wash off, however it feels tiny to me. I find it awkward washing the endless supply of large pots, and I am constantly changing the water in the basin, as I no longer have the space to give those, stubbornly dirty, dishes a rinse out before I stick them in the basin.

I have to confess it has taken a bit of getting used to and it hasn't helped that the sink at my work is huge too. It makes my new sink feel even smaller and awkward 😏.

I seem to spend a lot of time washing dishes, between working in a cafe and cooking for 8 most nights, I think I have a good routine going. The thing that I like the best though is lovely, clean, hot soapy water. There is something quite satisfying about washing dishes in that fresh water. I try to keep it like that for as long as possible. My old sink was good at helping me keep the basin water clean as I had plenty space outside the basin, however at work there is only a tiny hole down the middle of the plug to pour half cups of coffee or dirty water from a messy plate and I’m not very good at doing that slowly or carefully and usually end up with it all spilling into my clean water.

I have discovered that no matter how hard I try the water always ends up contaminated with bits of sauce or food floating around it, (I think the worst has to be leftover bean sauce 😬). Oh the dishes come out spotlessly clean (usually 😉) but in the end, the water cools down, the bubbles disappear and the water usually turns a cloudy colour and you can no longer see your hands or the dishes at the bottom of the sink. It's not long before the yucky water is poured away, the sink is given a quick rinse out and filled again with that lovely clean fresh water and plenty bubbles. The whole process begins again by trying to wash the cleanest dishes first so as not to spoil the water for as long as possible.

I have come to terms with the fact that the only way I can have squeaky clean dishes, is for me to have dirty water. A wee wipe with a dish cloth or piece of kitchen roll is just not enough. They need to be saturated, soaked and scrubbed in hot soapy water so that they’ll be gleaming again and up to Calums high standards and ready for the cupboard again.

I've possibly spent hours washing dishes at work and this process has gotten me thinking about how my life was like these dirty dishes. The bible says that because of Adam and Eve's disobedience in the garden, everyone is a sinner and nothing that we can ever do will make us good enough for God. Even all the good things that we try and do, they are like walking around wearing dirty clothes in God's eyes.

“We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.” Isaiah 64:6

Like my dirty dishes, there is a way that we all can be washed clean and made right before God. That way is Jesus. Jesus chose to come to this world to die a cruel death, so that my sin, all the wrong things I've ever thought or done, might be washed away and I can be; right, clean, new in God's eyes. When Jesus died he took the punishment for my sin, just like the consequences when I wash my dirty dishes is dirty water, so there are consequences to my sin being washed away. There is a cost, someone suffered so that I could become clean and acceptable for God's high standards and that was Jesus.