Article December 11, 2017 Issue

Dishwashing inspiration

Louise Thornton

How often when doing the dishes do you find there is baked-on or sticky food on a plate or bowl? And how often do you identify the baked-on or sticky food as part of the plate, dish, or utensil? You don’t! Why? Because when you took the plate, dish, or utensil out of the cabinet, it was clean, and it did not have any of that sticky food on it. To be able to see its natural state, you simply run it under some clean water with dish soap and the scrub of a sponge, and you have a clean plate again.

Now what if you have done that and some of the food is still there? Is it a part of the dish now? Of course not! What do you do? You use some more soap and water and scrub a little harder, knowing that it must come off because it was never a part of the dish. Never!

This analogy has helped me think about how sometimes I fall into the trap of identifying physical symptoms as personally belonging to me. I still do this sometimes, even though I’ve learned through my study and practice of Christian Science that I am the purely spiritual image and likeness of God. Anything suggesting I am separate from God, or suggesting I can have something attached to me that God has not given me, is a lie about me.

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