About two months ago I decided to stop using my dishwasher. I hated the process of loading and unloading the dishwasher, pre-washing to wash, cloudy glasses and often not all the way cleaned dishes. So I bought a stainless steel drainer from wal-mart and I haven't looked back. I still am lazy sometimes, but overall I feel my kitchen is cleaner more often. And in some ways I almost enjoy washing dishes now. For a few reasons.
Growing up we didn't have a dishwasher. Well we did. Their names were Micah, Christy, Josh, Jenny, Gina, Beki, Tammie, Mom and even Dad. We all had a dish night. Or two depending on who had recently gone to college. And I guess in some way, as silly as this sounds, seeing a dish drainer on my kitchen counter kind of makes me feel like I'm home.
And I can't seem to get warm in the winter. I am constantly cold. Except when I'm washing dishes in temperatures just shy of scalding.
But the main reason I think I have enjoyed this new process of washing dishes is during the times my hands are occupied with dishes, I have time to think. I'm not watching TV, or listening to music or yelling at 4th graders. Washing dishes requires very little thinking so my mind is freed up to just think. And have you thought about how very little time we have to think these days?
In our cars, we can talk on the phone, listen to music, even watch a movie.
While waiting to be seen at the dentist or doctor, we can play with our iphone or text a friend or check our email.
There's always something to watch on TV because we've recorded anything we might possibly want to watch.
We run with ipods plugged into our ears, pandora can stream our favorite music into any place we have an internet connection, and we can shop at any hour of the day for any item in the world.
If you think back just twenty years...how much more time did we give ourselves to just be alone with our thoughts?
I read in a Bible Study a few years back that women should appreciate the mundane tasks of running a household because while our hands our busy, our minds are free. Free to sort out a problem, dream, pray, imagine things we could do, think about the things we need to do, think.
Tonight as I washed the dishes, I thought about school, the boys, how I should do better at laundry, how I miss my best friend, why we need less plastic cups, how I wish I could be more dedicated about gardening. I dreamed up some ideas for a book, remembered the way dinner was when I was a kid, stressed about paying the bills, prayed a little bit, and smiled when I thought about spring break and what I want to do with my time...
It wasn't any serious thinking, that's certain, but it was...refreshing.
If I hadn't had dishes to wash (or laundry or a floor to sweep or socks to match...)I would have watched TV, read blogs, browsed on etsy or whatever and thought about other people's thoughts. And that certainly, most definitely has its place! Etsy is a therapy all on its own! and I'd lose it with my blogroll... But sometimes we just need only our thoughts, or His, to guide our thinking. Not music or an idea for a craft or... someone elses views on washing dishes. :)
Does any of this make sense? I'm terrified I have somehow just blogged against blogging or cursed the invention of the internet and cell phones. Completely not my intention!
It just felt good to think! And if I hadn't had the dishes to wash I wouldn't have.
There. I took like 3000 words to say what could have been said in 18.
Sheesh.
5 comments:
I'm with you Jenny! I didn't regularly use a dishwasher for about three years (until we moved to tinyville and there was no place for a dish-drainer AND the dishwasher actually functioned as intended). Now that we are out of tinyville, I am back to hand washing. I like it. Makes me feel accomplished. :)
I have lived without a dishwasher before and I HATED it! Although, anytime I've been without a dishwasher, I've also had an old yucky kitchen sink. If there had been a pretty one I might not have minded as much.
I am very thankful for that white contraption beside my sink now though. It is my friend.
But yes, the time for thinking is very nice. I guess I just get my thinking time in elsewhere. =)
superb post, my friend. absolute truth.
I just love the sound of the dishwasher. It's the sound of an acoomplishment. The truth is, I wash my dishes before I put them in there. It's silly, really.
I do think we have sadly moved away from the simple times, when we not only thought more and prayed more, but also sat and talked to a friend face to face, or took that time in the dr waiting room to visit with someone we didn't know, that maybe God wanted us to encourage or say a kind word to. Besides using our imagination and creative juices.
However, I do like my dishwasher! I do think alot while I'm loading it, and I agree, it's hummmm comforts me. Besides, my dishes are disinfected! My children were very rarely sick and I think that helped.
But David's mom agreed with you! Hand washing her dishes, or mine, was her therapy.
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