I feel like the more "just get this done" and the less "how can I make this beautiful" moments my life has, the more quickly it goes by, and the less I enjoy it. It is worth the 5-10 extra minutes it takes to dance with my clothes as I put them away.
I often think back to times that have gone by, times when things were much less convenient, and things took more time. Women would gather together and do their laundry together, and talk and sing together. Men in the fields would often do the same. Work and play were not so separated. I feel like at least some of them, at some time, had this wisdom, that to truly enjoy both, they should most often be mixed. Work should be play, and play should involve work.
And I thought of Mary Poppins, and her wisdom in making chores a game. I think a lot of adults think to do with their kids, but don't remember to do it with their own chores. Today I remembered, and it was beautiful.
What have you done to make a normally dull task fun or beautiful?
3 comments:
I love this post!
Chores become beautiful moments in my life when I have company. Recently, I have started including Soren in my housework. He especially loves to do the dishes with me; the water in the sink is so fun! It's worth the extra time it takes afterwards to clean the water and soap off the floor. We sing together and he tries to copy what I'm doing. And it has changed my chores from work-time-away-from-the-boys to teaching and playing opportunities. I like that.
Sky likes to "help" me by reading books, like Harry Potter, LOTR or Twilight to me while I wash dishes. Then, when the rack if full, he dries them and puts them away then goes back to reading. It's cute and gives us more time together.
I had a cat who used to help me with laundry. She taught me that laundry is a very fun cat-game, so I came to see it that way myself.
Making up the bed is another great cat-game, one that involves trying to move the sheet before the cat pounces and immobilizes that part, then moving to a different part and spreading it as far as possible before it too is pounced upon. In the end, there's usually a cat-sized lump made up into the bed, which later squiggles its way to the edge and jumps down. A wonderful game which I once regarded as a chore.
Once when I prayed and asked how to keep my house nicer, a phrase popped into my head "do it for love". Since then I've begun to see housework as acts of devotion, a time for meditation, prayer, and thanksgiving. It's a way to create order out of chaos and be thankful that I have a clean home, clean dishes, clean laundry, nice beds and beautiful rooms, for us to live in and be glad. Cooking becomes a ritual celebrating divine providence. It feels good.
I used to hate housework but now it makes me feel whole, in a way, and at peace. I do a little at a time all the time, now. It feels so good for everything to be done, and then for me to sit down and look at how nice things are and just enjoy the clean and orderly living spaces.
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