mystery in the mundane

I already linked to Elizabeth's posts on intentionality in housekeeping.

Here are some more that are in the same train of thought for me.

• A Noble Chore from High Desert Home
• Eating Mindfully from Rachel at Lean but Not Mean.

The first is about laundry among other things, and the second is about healthy living, but they overlap to me in thought process (admittedly, my thought processes can be rather free-associative at times).


Susan at High Desert Home mentioned Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and 'Woman's Work' by Kathleen Norris. The link is to a review which says:

Here, she takes a much more specific topic: how are the menial tasks of life —the tasks we don’t educate our children to do, those little jobs that we think of as work for other, less fortunate people’s children, the daily chores often considered “women’s work— islands of holiness, just like the Daily Office might be.

......

Norris makes clear that she doesn’t think that these tasks should define or confine us, but that they should not simply be disregarded as “menial” but looked at as a small but no less important part of our stewardship of the world, our recognition of God and the holy residing in almost every thing, our participation in what Jews call the tikkun olam, the fixing of the world.

Yes, I know the photo does not show the "mundane" -- but I thought it was lovely (daughter gets the credit) and shows how different things look in a different perspective -- a thought I want to remember in connection with these "islands of holiness!" Chari, do you recognize the scene?