By Dr. James Snyder
After several months of mayhem in our house, things began to quiet down. It was beginning to get back to our normal way of life.
Of course, because of the mayhem, many things that needed to be done did not get done. That made The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage jump in line to try to catch up with everything around the house. If there’s one thing undone, she cannot sit down.
I was able to get into my office and begin working on projects. I sure missed all that time working on my favorite projects. But I was committed to getting up to date with everything in my office. Of course, my up-to-date definition does not compare with The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage’s.
I noticed there were a lot of dishes to be cleaned, so I went up to The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and said, “Would you like me to do the dishes today?”
After a long period of laughing, she looked at me and said, “Do you remember the last time you did dishes for me?”
My memory isn’t always up to date, and I had to think a little bit about what she was talking about. Then it occurred to me.
About 20 years ago, I did the dishes for her. I think she was away shopping or something, so I decided to step in and help her with some of these kitchen chores.
I packed all of the dishes into the dishwasher. It took me quite a while because I couldn’t figure out where they all went. Eventually, I got them all in.
Now I had to find soap to clean these dishes. I looked everywhere, and I couldn’t find any soap in the kitchen. I finally went back to the laundry area and found a big box of soap there. I took that soap, went to the kitchen, opened the dishwasher, and just poured it all on those dishes. My goal was to make them cleaner than they’ve ever been.
I made sure every dish and utensil had a little soap on it. I was going to make The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage proud of her husband’s work in the kitchen.
I put everything in the dishwasher, along with the soap, then closed the door and turned it on. I smiled as I heard it working there before me. I then went back to my office to do a bit of work while the dishwasher ran.
While I was in the office, I began to hear a lot of noise from the kitchen that I couldn’t explain. It could be the dishwasher, since I’ve never heard it make that kind of noise before. What was happening in the kitchen?
I got up from my desk and went into the kitchen, and just as I entered the kitchen, I stopped in great shock. Soap from the dishwasher was pouring onto the kitchen floor.
That kitchen floor was being cleaned by the dishwasher, which I’ve never seen before.
That soap kept coming out of the dishwasher. I didn’t know what to do. I’ve never been in a situation like this before. I’ve never washed dishes before.
I ran over to the dishwasher and turned it off. In a minute or two, the flow of soap ceased coming out of the dishwasher. I looked all over the kitchen floor, and it was soaked with soap.
I did not know what to do, and as I stood there, I heard the front door open, and in walked The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. She came into the kitchen, stopped, and yelled as I’d never heard her yell before.
“What have you done?” She said to me rather strongly.
I looked at her with some puppy-dog eyes and confessed, “I thought I could help you by doing the dishes today.”
She looked at me, looked at the kitchen floor, then looked back at me.
I’m not sure how to resolve this situation. Still, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage looked at me firmly and said, “Why don’t you just go to your office and do your work, and I’ll stay here in the kitchen and do my work?”
Not knowing what to do, but knowing I was in a great deal of trouble, I did what she said and went back to my office. It took her most of the morning to clean up that mess I created.
That was 20 years ago, and I’ve never had that incident happen again. So, when I ask The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage if I could help her in the kitchen, I began to realize that the best help I could do for her was to get out of the way and go to my office.
I later found out that the soap I used was not for dishes but was for something completely different. How did I know there was a different soap for each project?
While in my office, I was reminded of a verse of scripture.
“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).
In my Christian life, the best thing I can do is get out of God’s way and let Him do His work His way. If I don’t, I mess up everything in my life.
Dr. James Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone 1-352-216-3025, e-mail jamessnyder51@gmail.com, website www.jamessnyderministries.com.
