A Pot, A Spoon and Everyday Life: What They All Have in Common

There was a time in my life when I found chores and housework therapeutic (#insane!), I believed it
calmed my soul and helped me think more clearly. I always felt fulfilled and ‘whole’ after I entered a
freshly clean space.

When I was about 9 years old, I saw one of those ‘home making and lifestyle’ magazines lying
around the house, and to my amazement, we had quite a lot of issues ordered by my father.

He was not an interior designer, and he never seemed to interfere with what my mother decided
regarding the house decor, maintenance or upkeep, but for some strange reason, he seemed to order lots of these kinds of magazines.

I would read these glossies from cover to cover and imagine that I lived in a house in one of the
pictures. Then I came to the realistic conclusion that though I may not live in them, I would make
sure the house I lived in was as clean as the photos. I did this judiciously to the point my dear sister gave me the nickname ‘nanny’, which stuck for many years.

That nickname lost its merit once I got married and had kids. I was heavily pregnant and too
arrogant or stubborn to accept any assistance or help, so the chores naturally began to pile up.
The worst was burnt pots, which had to be soaked for a few hours before they could be washed, I
mean scrubbed first with a spoon or iron sponge.

To help your imagination a little better, picture a metal pot, a metal serving spoon and a metal
scouring sponge used for ‘scrubbing’ stubborn dishes. Despite all my judicious and pious notions
about chores over the years, I have never loved ‘scrubbing’ pots.

There was a time in college, I ‘soaked’ the pot with soda bicarbonate for 2 days so I wouldn’t have to scrub the pot (how embarrassing!).

Anyway, I have made peace with scrubbing because I now take comfort in the fact that delicious
dishes often require hard scrubbing afterwards. So here I was in the kitchen scrubbing away at an
extremely stubborn dish stain when it hit me; sometimes in life, some things placed
in ‘soap’ and ‘water’ won’t ‘wash’ away.

There are weaknesses and issues in our lives that good advice, attending a church service, or simply
praying about will not get rid of them that easily. We need to get our hands ‘dirty’, pull up our scouring sponges and scrub them away.

Scourers and metal sponges never look pleasant after the first few uses; they may sometimes scar
our hands and leave them in dire need of hand cream after using them, but they always get the
tough work done.

Is there anything in your life you need to toughen up and scrub away? Perhaps something you’ve
tried to wish away, maybe used minimal efforts to get rid of them, but they seem adamant. It is time
to tighten up your belt of efforts and do whatever is necessary to get the job done.

A wise man once said that no one congratulates you for making an effort (except you are a toddler in an expensive pre-school); there are no degrees or certificates for ‘attempt’. If you want something, then do whatever it takes –legally to get it.

It may scar your hands, leave you to walk the path and success ‘alone’, but you will feel fulfilled and
joyful when you see the reward of your efforts. They don’t call it ‘hard work’ for nothing, and do not
tell me about ‘smart’ work, because smart work requires working hard at the right thing.

Got your sponge ready? Start scrubbing at your weaknesses, flaws, past unresolved issues, and
grudges, dumped and dusty dreams, abandoned because someone told you they wouldn’t come true.

Cheers to a greater and new, improved version of you!