Any mother, whether they work inside the home or work outside the home, is always trying to figure out how to juggle the many demands on their time. The list is long and we want everything to be at the top of the list. We want quality time with our spouse and our children. We want to do quality work both at home and at our work sites, and we want to do it as efficiently as possible. We want to nurture our friendships. We need to time to pray and reflect on our lives. We need time to shop for groceries and clothing. We need time to volunteer at our child's school and then time to take them to their extracurricular activities. And somewhere in there, we need to exercise, and put meals on the table. Are you worn out yet? Oh, yeah - I forgot, we want our home to be clean, well-organized, and a place of refuge. Just writing this list down gives me heart palpitations. I think our lives could easily be a Survivor reality show. This list makes eating worms and crickets in 110 degree heat look like a cake walk . After trying to accomplish this list, I would probably beg to be voted off this Island!
I think a lot of things on this list we really do enjoy and we can see and feel the gifts God has blessed us with. If you have a job in this economy, you are blessed. If you have a spouse who loves you no matter what, you are blessed. If you have friends to go to lunch with, you are blessed. If you have groceries in your pantries, you are blessed. If you are able to provide an education for your children, you are blessed. If you have a healthy spirit, mind, and body, you are blessed. But housework? A house to clean is a blessing for sure, but how is the actual cleaning and caring for it a blessing? Some people really do enjoy cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc. and some people just don't like it. And then some people fall somewhere in between the love-hate spectrum of housework.
Let's look at housework through the eye of Spirit. Remembering that we are in this world, but not of it, means that everything in the physical part of our lives, is also symbolic of the spiritual part of our lives, and is here to grow our spirit and teach us how to restore our oneness with God. Our homes are a reflection of our spirit, and each room is a reflection of who we are, and has something to teach us about ourselves. Our kitchens are a reflection of the creativity of God, the giving and receiving of our daily bread, and a symbol of physical, emotional, and spiritual nourishment. When we prepare food in this room, we aren't just preparing food for our family, we are an extension of this room, we are a source of spiritual nourishment to our families and the rest of the world. We become what we are preparing. In this room, we create meals, we break bread together, we share our experiences of the day, and we set a feast upon our tables. The rituals of cooking, setting the table, placing the feast on the table, saying grace, sharing conversation, eating, and clearing the table become our prayer. Viewing this activity through the lens of spirit, we join our hearts with the activity of our hands. We pray in thanksgiving for all who brought the food to our table, we pray for all who will sit at the table and eat,and we bless them by name. We are mindful of the colors,textures, and smells of the food we are preparing and we feel their beauty and thank God for our five senses. As we set the table, we pray for the conversations that will take place, that we are open and available to God-who-speaks to us through our family members. We pray for any guests that might sit down at this table. If you have ever attended a church service where communion is distributed, you begin to realize that we are re-creating what happens on Sunday in our own homes. The Eucharist we are participants of on Sunday is continued in our own homes. We keep the feast of abundance and thanksgiving alive in the daily preparation of meals for our own family. Our kitchen counters and our dining tables become altars of love where we celebrate each other and all the ways in which God provides for us. When we are spiritually mindful of what we are actually "doing and becoming", cooking a meal, isn't just a secular, hum-drum activity, It is a sacred ritual, another form of praying, and another way to make God's love real and alive in our families and in our world. When we cook our meals, we are presiding over something very holy and transforming. Our own calling to the royal "priesthood" is made visible in these activities, and we are now servant-minded in all we are doing. What was once viewed as a secular activity now is a reflection the Great Light that shines through in all we are doing in the presence of God.
Now, let's open the door to another room, the bathroom. If you stop and think about our homes, there is a lot of water needed to make a home run smoothly. We need water to cook, bathe, drink, and wash our clothes, our dishes, and eliminate the waste from our bodies. I am a person who likes to shower in the morning. For many moms, it might be the only time you get to yourself, or somewhat to yourself. As we let the warm water run over us and we clean ourselves, and wash our hair, we are participating in a symbolic cleansing. I ask God to cleanse me of everything that isn't of Him. I ask God to wash from my mind all thoughts of negativity, lack, complaint, and darkness. I thank God for the body I am washing, and all it has allowed me to do and accomplish. I ask to be bathed in the spirit of light, love, and joy. I ask to be washed clean from yesterday and to be made a new creation today, in remembrance of the waters of baptism. As I let the water run over me, I ask God to shower me with Knowledge, Truth, and His loving presence. When I am finished and dried off, I like to soften my skin with lotion. As I lotion my skin, I ask God to soften any hardness in my own heart. I ask God to make me soft and teachable to the lessons of spirit in the day to come. As I brush my teeth, I ask God to remove the build-up of plaque from my spirit. As I put on my clothes, I ask God to clothe me in His peace, protection, and wisdom.
Taking a shower and preparing my body for the day, has become a sacred ritual of cleansing my spirit and making it ready to receive spiritual insight through the activities of my day. It has become a holy ritual of cleansing me from mistakes and wrong-thinking, and a renewal of anticipation for all the gifts God will bestow on me throughout the day.
Praying with, and being mindful of God's presence in the ordinary tasks of our homemaking transforms them into the extraordinary, and transforms us into all that God has intended us to be in the world. We don't have to pray with a prayerbook in our hands. We can pray with our bodies, our senses, and with the ordinary objects of our home life- a toothbrush, a lotion bottle, pots and pans, a wash cloth, and cups and plates. While we fold laundry, we can ask God enfold us in His loving care. While we brush our girl's hair we can ask God to bless her in all ways and remember that every hair on our head is counted and every strand, every detail of our life is important to God. As we put away our dishes, we ask God to bring order to our lives, asking for help in prioritizing what is of value and importance. As we make our beds, we ask God to help us make beds of happiness and love to lie down in. As we take out the trash, we ask God to remove from our lives every thought that is wasteful.
Everything we do is our prayer. Each thing we touch and use in our homes is blessed and sacred, and serves a holy purpose. The housework we sometimes dread now has new purpose and meaning. It can bring us real and lasting joy because God has breathed new life into something we considered "dead" and just not fun.
As we dust pictures, we can pray for the loved ones in those pictures. As we clean mirrors, we can ask God that we mirror his action in the world, and that we can be a reflection of his beauty in the world. As we put on our makeup, we ask God to make us beautiful inside and out, enhancing our giftedness.
The Mary/Martha comes alive in us, and the activity of "Martha" in us joins the mindfulness of the "Mary" in us and we choose the "better part" in all things. As we put our hearts into our homemaking, the treasure we find there is peace, contentment, and a fresh purpose. We learn to remove God from the somewhere-out-there to the heavenly realms of God-in-all things here. We allow God-in-us to permeate every floor, every wall, each doorway, and every window. Instead of tedious "to do" lists hanging on our refrigerators, we now have a litany of holy activity in which to encounter the presence of God. The idea that only holy things and holy activities exist in churches is transformed when we realize that the things we do everyday and the very ordinary things we reach for everyday are made holy and blessed because we are holy and blessed. Mindfulness is for everyone. Like Mary, we love to ponder the revelations of God in soapy dishwater, casseroles in our ovens, and fresh sheets on our clotheslines. Our coffee cups become the chalices of friendship and conversation. Our stack of bills and an open checkbook are channels for increased abundance. Our medicine cabinets are the tabernacles of healing and wellness. Church is home and home is church. Our Mary/Martha dilemma doesn't have to lessen one thing in order for something else in us to be strengthened. Everything is the better part because we are mindful of God's presence in all the activities of our homes. God gives us the wisdom to see the better part in the simplest activity, the activity that humbles, the activity that no one else will think twice about and everyone takes for granted. The invisible handiwork of God that is our homemaking is made visible to us in the better part of our open hearts and our open minds. We sit at the feet of the Lord even while we're making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, changing diapers, and kissing away hurts. Pouring our love into our everyday routines becomes our act of worship, where we are privileged to feel God's presence while participating in the transfiguration of our hearts and minds. Hands-on doesn't have to mean hearts-off.
Next Week: Forgiveness - A Family's Journey from Head to Heart, moving from knowing to experiencing
