I have also been trying to simplify our lives, and in some aspects, simplifying has resulted also in having the homemaking tasks done in the old-fashioned way, from one point of view it would seem that all our moderns gizmos, washing machines, refrigerators, etc….would work for us in making things easier and simplifying our lives, but I am finding out that it is working just the contrary for us, in the practical homemaking life, it is more simple to do washing by hand.
How can this be so? I am not sure yet, but when we wash our clothes by hand, besides all the other things that we are doing differently, the focus changes from dutiful task to lovely service. It is in the actual rubbing of the dress, the actual rinsing of the shirt, the hanging with pins in a beautiful manner, that I get to do my job lovingly and not as a chore to be finished as soon as possible.
I think the same law applies to our relationships, when we get attention to them, when we really listen to what the other is saying, when we take time to spend with others, without rushing through it, things disclose in a different manner.
Last Monday I asked my young Amish neighbor what were her plans for the week, she responded that she never knows what may come up! Is true for me too, when in between my planning and organizing I leave space for the unknown to happen, things come to us that are prompted by the Spirit, if only I could notice them all the time, I would be a better servant….
