“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24

Scullery Maid

Long ago, when I first got married, a helpful (?) friend mentioned to me the percentage of my lifetime that would be spent in front of the kitchen sink doing dishes. Well, let’s see now, if I get that duty taken care of in approximately 1½ hours per day and multiply that by how many days in a month, then a year, and multiply that by how many years I’ve been married—it’s a mighty long time scrubbing things like sticky crud out of my dutch oven. (Did I mention the time I accidentally steamed broccoli without any water in the pot? As we know, steam comes from water! Now, that’s one foul, stinking, burned-on, black gunk.)

Of course, along with dish duty come the many other household chores that must be tended to to keep a home ship-shape. Some days, I’m sure we’ve all felt like one of those arcade game pop-up rabbits—the player “shoots” at one, knocks it down, and another pops up faster than you can say “Jack Rabbit.” At my house, the clothes dryer will chime, then the oven timer goes off, and then the microwave joins the chorus that keeps me hopping from one chore to another. Throw in cell phones and their chirps; then it’s time to make the beds, scrub the toilets, and figure out what needs to come out of the freezer for dinner. And eventually, I’m back to the kitchen sink where I started in the first place. AARGH!

One day, I was feeling particularly overwhelmed, as buzzers and timers bombarded my ears from all directions, when I thought, “Why, I feel like a lowly scullery maid. No one even cares that I do ALL THIS!” (Poor me). It then occurred to me that I didn’t even know what a scullery maid was! So I looked it up and discovered, sure enough, I fit the bill.

Scullery (chiefly historical)—”a small kitchen or room at the back of the house used for washing dishes and other dirty household work.” So, a scullery maid is one who tends to these things. Dirty. Messy. Stuff.

I do try not to complain, because as most of us know, we truly are blessed to even have a kitchen, food and messy dishes to clean. Things could be sooo much worse. And the verse in Colossians reminds us that no matter what we do, to work at it as “unto the Lord.”

Time at the sink, or doing other “mindless” types of chores are really perfect times to talk to the Lord and pray for people, situations and the world—such a better use of time than complaining and falling into self-pity (who me?)!

When my husband heard the scullery maid definition, he’d come home and say, “Well, how’s my little scullery maid?” Which finally morphed into, “Well, how’s my little scullery BABE?” Hmmm…makes me feel sooo much better. “Babes” are way cooler.

Dear Lord, forgive us for complaining about the work You set before us each day, and remind us of our many blessings. We thank You for everything we have and everything we are. You’ve given us so much. May we use it all for Your glory. Amen.