frig·id adjective 1. very cold in temperature: a frigid climate.

Our dishwasher broke last night. I suppose it was destiny – afterall, how long can something named Fridgeaire continue to make hot water. Unfortunately everything in our kitchen is Fridgeaire except our refrigerator…

“That which we call a rose by any other name…”

Someone will undoubtedly point out the classic line, “what’s in a name.” Then there will be a presentation of statistics how Fridgeaire actually stacks up the competition. The climax, I must assume, will conclude that Hotpoint is the dishwashing brand to avoid. But as I hand washed all the dishes this morning statistics were not running through my mind…

“God made my sam-ich.” ~ Phoebe

We have been building off Wednesday night lessons by teaching Phoebe about God’s creation. Simple things like, “God made the sky.” And she has gotten excited about the concept and started to apply it to other things. So when Meg made a peanut butter and honey sandwich, Phoebe shouted out, “God made my sam-ich!” Of course Meg tried to correct her, but it is difficult to logically teach a two-year-old. So soon she will probably be shouting out, “Mom made the sky.” …

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Our machines and toys can make us feel greater and more important. And we get attached to this new reality. Take the dishwasher. Giving dishes to a machine is new for me. Growing up we did not have a dishwasher. Or, for full-disclosure, there was a dishwasher under the counter, but when it broke my dad was proud to proclaim he had three replacements (me, Aud, and Jake). Yet today I am left ranting and irritated at the inconvenience of dish soap hands… As though I deserve the machines to serve me.

Fuel by RS Thomas

And the machines say, laughing
up what would have been sleeves
in the old days: ‘We are at
your service,’ ‘Take us’, we cry,

‘to the place that are far off
from yourselves.’ And so they do
at a price that is the alloy in
the thought that we can do without them.