In Dishes, Lesson #2, I mentioned that if a child washes the dishes poorly I can just rewash them.

Well, a child recently washed the dishes.

These are the ones I needed to rewash.

I did put a few away that I determined could be considered clean.

Now, some of these dishes were not so bad.  In fact, if I hadn’t been scrutinizing each item, some may have slipped past me with their slight dirtiness.

But some were obvious.  Tomato sauce all over the bottom of a plate.  Butter still smeared on a knife.  Porridge stuck in the bottom of a cup.  Fingerprints on a measuring cup.

It’s as if he just got them wet, then set them in the drying rack.  Blindly.

After piling up the utensils that needed my attention, and as I began to wipe them with a soapy dishcloth, I was battling with frustration.  I mean, this is not his first time with this chore.  He knows how to do it properly.  He has washed dishes well in the past.

But as I rinsed now-clean plates, I had to let my frustration slip away.

How many times does God see me doing things that are not good, right, pure…clean?  How many times have I done something, even thinking it was ok, but on closer inspection would be deemed unworthy?  How many times have I left Him downright filthy messes?  (As if I am blind to the sin I’m entangled in…)

Yet, how many times has He taken me in His hands, yet again?  How many times has He pointed out the little things that He wants me to work on to be even better?  How many times has He forgiven me for my rebellion and patiently restored me?

And how many times will He continue to do it?