My purpose is to bring peoples to their promised land. (I do so with “Earth, Wind & Fire.”)
A few years ago, my wife decided to go back to school full time. To help support her and our family, I started doing the laundry. Every Sunday I bring the baskets to our basement and get to work. For me, the simplicity, predictability and rhythm of doing the work frees me to think about larger questions, including how am I doing living into my purpose? What happened last week or in the last few months that is energizing and fulfilling? What is depleting me? Where can I be more courageous or supportive of others?
Starting with full baskets of unsorted, crumpled laundry and ending up hours later with empty baskets, fresh towels and crisp sheets is satisfying and renews me. I think this is because, as a professor, other days are filled with research and work that, while positive, is also rarely ever finished. Relationships with colleagues and even students are measured in years and sometimes decades.
Perhaps not surprisingly, more gets ironed the more productive this time is for me because it extends the moment. Sheets and shirts are always done. Dish towels, placemats and napkins tell me it was a particularly good Sunday.
My purpose is to bring peoples to their promised land. (I do so with “Earth, Wind & Fire.”)
A few years ago, my wife decided to go back to school full time. To help support her and our family, I started doing the laundry. Every Sunday I bring the baskets to our basement and get to work. For me, the simplicity, predictability and rhythm of doing the work frees me to think about larger questions, including how am I doing living into my purpose? What happened last week or in the last few months that is energizing and fulfilling? What is depleting me? Where can I be more courageous or supportive of others?
Starting with full baskets of unsorted, crumpled laundry and ending up hours later with empty baskets, fresh towels and crisp sheets is satisfying and renews me. I think this is because, as a professor, other days are filled with research and work that, while positive, is also rarely ever finished. Relationships with colleagues and even students are measured in years and sometimes decades.
Perhaps not surprisingly, more gets ironed the more productive this time is for me because it extends the moment. Sheets and shirts are always done. Dish towels, placemats and napkins tell me it was a particularly good Sunday.