Home Maid

Tonight, I am doing laundry. And laundry is very therapeutic for a busy-body like myself. As the rhythmic hum of the dryer transforms soggy socks and towels into fluffy cottony wonders, I think about and cherish the idea of being home.

Sample of my friend Sue's homemade natural laundry soap.

Home is a space where some of the most beautiful and ugly memories are created. Dreams and nightmares come to life. True love and heartbreak are realized. I like this prayer written by a man named Walter Brueggemann called 'Our true home':

God before and God behind,

God for us and God for your own self,

     Maker of heaven and earth,

     creator of sea and sky,

     governor of day and night.

We give thanks for your ordered gift of life to us,

     for the rhythms that reassure,

     for the equilibriums that sustain,

     for the reliabilities that curb our anxieties.

          we treasure from you,

               days to work and nights to rest.

          we treasure from you,

               days to control and nights to yield.

          we savor from you,

               days to plan and nights to dream.

Be our day and our night,

     our heaven and our earth,

     our sea and our sky,

          and in the end our true home. Amen.

Almost two years ago, I heard the words 'come home' spoken to me so clearly by God. My life changed drastically since that night in July 2010. I was nineteen, just finished my first year of university and had a head full of ambitions. Looking back over this short amount of time, I've come to accept my position in the Kingdom of God and that is to be a servant. Jesus redefines greatness, power and love as the Silent Lamb of God. He invites us to be the least and in that experience true life. Arriving at this understanding is the closest to heaven on earth I've seen so far.