A Week At a Time - A Mother and Daughter's summer challenge: Week One - The VASE!

Hi All! My daughter Rebekah and I are doing a challenge for the summer. We are taking regular tasks (or maybe something we've always meant to do but struggle starting or finishing it) and have agreed to consistently do it together for just one week and journal our way through it. We've named it "A Week At a Time", and we'd love to have you follow our journey!  If it inspires you, share it! If it inspires you to start one of your own we'd love to hear about it in the comments below. 

WEEK 1: Hand-washing the dishes - The Vase

Day Five

Rebekah: I went back to washing.  Drying was too slow… We had to do it much later today.  I had friends over most of the time, so it wasn’t until the evening that my Mom and I got to the dishes.  Maybe we should’ve done them in the morning, but I was still sleeping.  It is summer, after all.  Haha, my Mom’s a much more patient person than I am.  Or maybe just less demanding…

Michelle:

Well, I guess if you do the dishes at almost midnight it’s still technically THAT day, although they do need a little more soaking than usual! Truth is, it was a long day and as much as I think Beks and I share the same space, this exercise has highlighted that sometimes we have different rhythms and that’s ok.  I’m just glad we share space. And… doing them late when the house was quiet tonight was kind of nice.  We talked about some things that have come up over the day that would have, again, gone unacknowledged otherwise…I was really tired at 11:30, but the few minutes we grabbed together was definitely worth that wait….Thanks God.

…Seriously heading to bed now and just noticed the vase…that we STILL forgot to wash. Who does that!? Oh well, tomorrow."

Day Six

Rebekah: Well, we still haven’t washed the vase we meant to wash on the very first day of doing this challenge.  It’s currently sitting in sudsy water left to soak for tomorrow.  I won’t be surprised if we forget it all together.  I’ve noticed that doing the dishes isn’t that much of an inconvenience.  You just get up and do them and they’re done within a few minutes.  Plus, they’re done.  Like, completely done.  You don’t have to come back to unload them from the dishwasher because there isn’t one.  

Michelle: So today I wanted to just swipe things into the dishwasher. Sometimes I want space on the counter It makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something for the day, and there's an enormous sense of satisfaction in that... I imagined myself sitting in the family room, with a cup of coffee with the quiet hum of the dishwasher in the background, and the fresh scent of whatever cleaner would have been swiped over the counter, ahhh, Sigh!  But God, you are reminding me that some of life is messy, and when I try to swipe it away with a fresh scent of cleaner and shut the dirty parts behind a closed door, I might just miss the journey all together.

Day seven

The Vase...ignored...again

Rebekah: We washed the vase!  Yay!  There were only a few cups and plates today too, so cleaning went by very quickly.  An easy way to wrap up this challenge.  I’m glad we did it.  Surprisingly, for me, it wasn’t the conversation, the one-on-one time with my mom, or even the practice of responsibility that made this challenge notable.  It was simply the dishes.  For my entire 18 years of life, I’ve despised the dishes.  I’d rather vacuum, wash the windows, and clean the bathroom than do the dishes once.  Doing this taught me not to hate the dishes.  And, on a much larger note, taught me to give everything a chance.  Even though I might hate it, there’s always some good in it.  

Suds the...the kinesthetic motivator

Michelle
(For the Record, I think Beks might be getting a little tired of my spiritual analogies! Ha!... but she's been very gracious about it!) OK,  THE.VASE.  It was kind of a big deal that we remembered that vase. I think we both looked past it because we were lazy…well at least I did. I said to myself six times this week that we would do it tomorrow. I suppose if I would have said to Beks at the beginning of the week, “We can wash that vase in seven days.” we both would have been less inclined to accommodate the ridiculous idea. Oh well, it’s done.  The vessel is clean and ready to hold stems of beauty once again. Maybe that’s the best wrap up to this challenge – that procrastination is not helpful in transformation... taking the mess as it comes and intending to do something about it, will allow us to cooperate with God as he washes us. We soak in Him, and as we do, He makes us capable of holding new beauty. A beauty that's full of the deep fragrance of God.


I think I’m might miss this challenge. I know I’m going to miss the side-by-side times with Beks.  Thanks God…We’ve had a good time.



Thanks for following this crazy challenge...

Next Challenge: A practice in gratitude, Taking a walk everyday, cleaning out a messy space, Reading Bible stories...  STAY TUNED!