I'm not a gardener, I don't much like cooking and using my hands to prepare food, and I most certainly don't do anything handy around the house other than the laundry. I'm not precious about my nails, but I do regularly groom and manicure myself so I don't look sloppy.
I don't really enjoy housecleaning, but I love the feeling of having a clean house, so I will occasionally pull out the furniture polish and get about buffing the timber. I can check the oil and water in my car, but that's as far as I'll go. No oil change for me. That's what I pay mechanics for. Their hands are already so grubby it would be a shame to dirty my pretty little paws when they could do it in half the time.
I do bath the dogs and brush their coats, but when it comes to the gross things like cleaning out their ears? Mum's the best person for that job. And let's not get started on who should clean up any mishaps on the carpet. Mum. Enough said.
I like washing up, but I always like to make sure that I have a sink full of clean water. We're not advanced enough to have a dishwasher, so it's good ol' fashioned washing up for me. I don't enjoy sticking my hands into luke-warm dirty dish water to pull the plug. I'll often use a fork to pull it out so I don't have to get my hands dirty.
Now, before you label me an OCD fanatic, let me explain. (...I used to organise my wardrobe in alphabetical order according to the colours of the fabric.... black, blue, brown, green, grey, orange, pink, purple, yellow. I have since recovered, but that obsession does linger every now and then...) I just don't like getting my hands dirty. I feel, well, dirty.
But I also know that things don't get done on their own. I've had to learn the art of rolling up my sleeves and doing whatever needs to be done. It's a pretty simple concept. When things need to be done, I do them. I don't like to have a job unfinished. I very rarely leave a job uncompleted. I do enjoy working through a to-do list and ticking off the things that need to be done.
My dad used to drill into me, 'If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well'. Thanks Dad. You bred excellence into me from a young age, as young as I can remember.
I'm no stranger to hard work. I do what needs to be done. And I've learned that, sometimes, you've got to get your hands dirty. There's just times where things need to be done. And there's no way you can't do them. You can't ring Hire A Hubby and get them to finish the job. It can only come from you, from your hands, from your experience, your background, your knowledge and wisdom.
There's some things that you've got roll your sleeves up for and get your hands dirty.
Now, you've probably figured out that I'm not talking about planting pansy's or scrubbing down the garage walls (because who wants to do that?!). I'm talking about getting your hands into the hard work, the team challenges, the building, the stretching the growing of yourself and others, the tedious tasks of teamwork and the painful process of internal healing. Sometimes, there's no other way to deal with it than to get out those princess rubber gloves with faux animal fur, snap them on and go about the Father's business.
Because when you busy yourself with building God's kingdom, He busies Himself with your steps. When your about the Father's business, He looks after yours.
What a privilege, what an honour, to spend my life getting my hands dirty for the Kingdom.
