I have been thinking about writing this post for several days? weeks? and keep waiting to work on it. I didn’t write it because I did not have the new bottle of soap. I couldn’t write about it until I photographed it. Waiting, waiting, until I could do it perfectly.

I  took photographs of just the bottle of Joy dish detergent,then realized the bottle of Joy needed to be in the midst of the mess on my kitchen counter — that the photograph did not need to be perfect. I did not have to completely clean my kitchen to take a picture. I could actually take a photograph of a mess and be honest. Yes, Pamela has dirty dishes.   I did not want to be on my death bed, wishing I had photographed the bottle of Joy and written about it.

The bottle of Joy that I keep by my sink to wash my dishes is there because of a promise I made to my friend Joy in Minnesota. If her name was Dawn , I would have a bottle of Dawn dish detergent by my sink. If her name was Palmolive, I would have a bottle of Palmolive dish soap by my sink.  But then we wouldn’t have a story, because there are no bible verses to encourage me that read, “The Palmolive of  the Lord is my strength.”

Joy has a son Andrew who has the best hugs, and the sweetest smile.  He sometimes  does not listen to his mother, and like all children, was not born sinless. I promised to pray for Joy, and for Andrew. I promised to pray everytime I washed my dishes, and to help me remember, I would buy a bottle of Joy dish detergent and use it when I do. The label on my bottle had been washed off, so it was time for a new bottle, because a promise is a promise, and if I don’t see the word” joy”, I don’t remember to pray.

Having the bottle of Joy dish detergent by my sink makes me think of the word joy, and what it means. Often I don’t feel any joy as I wash the dishes. I think negative thoughts, ” I don’t want to do this. What a waste of my time. Am I the maid?” — and more along that vein.  But I have been working on being different, and have been reading about controlling my mind and my thoughts.

So the simple little bottle of Joy dish detergent, reminds me that “The Joy of the Lord is my strength.”

The bottle is $1.12 at Walmart.

Buy a bottle, pray for Joy and Andrew, and be reminded of how much God loves you when you wash your dishes. When I wash my dishes,  I have the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy down in my heart, down in my heart to stay.