May 9th - A House of Order

This is another one of my favorite days. 

Another page bookmarked for when the housekeeping gets hard.

Start Quote

Because we dread it,

we put it off for as long as possible until we have to 

dig ourselves out.

Many women approach the 

unrelenting, 

repetitive, 

exhausting, 

and unproductive work 

known as housekeeping 

like the torture of Sisyphus.

After offending the Greek god Zeus, Sisyphus was punished by 

having to roll an enormous stone to the top of a steep hill.

Every time he managed to pull off this feat,

the stone would slide back down 

and the poor soul would have to start over again. 

Women do the same thing.

"The clean becomes soiled, 

the soiled is made clean,

over and over, 

day after day."

-Simone de Beauvoir

That is, of course, assuming we get around to it daily.

For two-thirds of American women who also work outside their home, this means tackling household chores between the hours of seven P.M. and seven A.M.

And you wonder why the soiled stays soiled until you can't stand it?

When I discovered

-to my dismay-

that order was the third principle that needed to be gently explored and embraced on the Simple Abundance path,

I balked.

Although I frequently felt frazzled and adrift, 

especially when trying to find something 

or ignore the disarray around me, 

the virtue of order seemed very 

old-fashioned, 

unimaginative, 

and uninspired

-as dreary and cheerless, in fact, as the word chore.

End Quote 

Sarah then goes on to talk again about the Amish, the Quakers, and the Shakers, who "elevated order to a sacred art...

[who] believed that their daily work, 

including housekeeping, 

was a personal expression of worship."

"Prayer and housekeeping - they go together.

They have always gone together. 

We simply know that our daily round is how we live.

When we clean and order our homes, we are somehow also cleaning and ordering ourselves."

-Gunilla Norris 

I've quoted this scripture before, and it is still one of my favorites. 

Funny how prayer and order go hand in hand, don't you think?

"Organize yourselves;

prepare every needful thing, 

and establish a house,

even a house of prayer,

a house of fasting,

a house of faith, 

a house of learning, 

a house of glory,

a house of order, 

a house of God;"

-D&C 109:8 

It doesn't have to be torture. 

I also enjoyed "Set in Order Thy House".

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Gratitude Journal

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1) Going to the park on a nice warm day with a cool breeze and good friends. 

2) Getting to hold a newborn baby. He's not really a newborn, but he is still so little it counts. 

3) Little baby feet, and little toddler feet. Not so much adult feet...but I am grateful for mine, walking is pretty awesome.

4) Robbie took the kids and the house is quiet. I'm eating dinner on the couch, watching the hunger games, and working on the computer...with no little hands touching me. And then I'm going to take a bath. I love my night off.

5) Multi tasking. I was scrubbing some laundry while the kids were in the bath. Cleaning the babies, cleaning their clothes...getting everything all clean.