Calm Introspection

The first winter storm of the season has now come and gone and now there is a calm in the cold frozen “ness” of these early January days in West Michigan. While the kids are perfectly willing to put on their winter gear and head out on some expedition into the wilds of their imagination. I am more content to stay indoors where there is ample heat and spectacular view of a now dormant cherry orchard. In my life's quest to seek an ever deeper relationship with God, I find times like these to be a blessing. It is easier to be contemplative. It's easier to slow down and take stock. Times like these are a necessary part of the spiritual journey and spiritual growth. The times of retreat, such as these, are only helpful if they are divided by times of action and of pushing beyond what is known and comfortable. This certainly can and does mean things like practicing radical hospitality and demonstrating unconditional love. Also, it can and does mean finding God in places you wouldn't expect or even begin to look. Like the mundane tasks that we find ourselves doing day to day without the slightest bit of mindfulness.

In The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence (a monk who lived nearly 300 years ago) it says, “that he (Brother Lawrence) was always guided by love. He was never influenced by any other interest, including whether or not he was saved. He was content doing the smallest chore if he could do it purely for the love of God...He believed that God is much greater than any of the simple gifts He gives us. Rather than desiring them from Him, he chose to look beyond the gifts, hoping to learn more about God Himself. Sometimes he even wished that he could avoid receiving his reward so that he would have the pleasure of doing something solely for God.”

I have discovered, or rather, rediscovered for myself, this truth recently. When you open yourself to the presence of God in every moment even an evening of doing dishes can be a holy and blessed event. Now I can already hear the jokes, “You can come over to my house and have a holy and blessed event doing my dishes.” I, However, would not want to deprive any of you of your own time with God, so do your own dishes.

One great example of this kind of living is in a blog by an old friend of mine. She, her husband and two children are Americans living in Palestine. Her blog is titled Piles of Laundry in the Holy Land it can be found at www.imsufyan.com . In it she describes life in Ramallah, Palestine from a decidedly non-political perspective. She describes the struggles that many of us deal with or have dealt with as parents, additionally she gives a picture of what it is like to live in an environment where there is hostility and oppression like nothing we have ever experienced in the United States. With excursions to Holy sites and pictures of daily life in Palestine all while teaching yoga and being a wife and mom, and it makes for a very interesting read as well as an encouragement to find meaning in difficult circumstances.

So how do you find the Holy in the mundane? How do you seek the “beyond” that is in our midst. For me every Friday and Monday after dinner I close the kitchen door, turn on my iPod, which has about an hours worth of music on it and I get to work on the dishes and kitchen cleaning. Diane and the kids come and go and talk with me while I wash, dry, organize, sweep all while I am praising God and thanking him for His presence, for the family He has blessed me with, and for the life He has called me to. I wouldn't change a bit of it.