Domestic Goddess Reflections

  This morning I awoke to sunshine, blue sky and colder weather.  Winter is beginning to show itself in my part of the world.  Usually it arrives well before now.  There is a promise of snow in the sky, which the Weather Channel proudly announces should arrive tomorrow.  It is a good day, I think to myself, to get the house in order. 
   Something is afoot in my life.  I can tell because the house is strewn with piles.  There are at least ten piles of assorted things, including mail and newspapers, on the kitchen table.  Several piles of sorted laundry dot the floor of my bedroom.  Worst of all, the toilet paper has not been put on the holder but sits precariously on the edge of the bathtub.  When there is something stirring in me, creative or otherwise, my living space reflects it.  Having taken a look a the house I would say that cosmic shifts in my being are brewing.
   As I sort, throw out and clean up I reflect on all the stuff that is scattered about the place. How much does one person need, I ask myself, as the third load of laundry goes in the washer.  Images of women carrying water for their families down dusty roads float in front of my eyes as I turn on the tap to run water to wash the stack of dishes in the sink.  As the clothes from the dryer are folded and put away in drawers already full, I think of the children whose clothes are thin and threadbare.  As I dust, my hands caress the the thin blue-green fluted glass vase that sits on my mantelpiece.  I remember my Grandmother's hands as she dusted it on her mantelpiece years ago.  I make the bed with warm sheets fresh from the dryer.  The soft blue throw pillow my mother made and that sat on her bed for the last few years is placed on my bed as a sign that all is done.
  The day reveals its wisdom. Yes, there is too much stuff, much of which I don't need.  Some one else can use it.  I am blessed by conveniences to which most of the world does not have access.  That privilege calls me to be responsible for the gifts of water, electricity and the like.  The treasures of the generations that have passed before me grace my home and remind me of my connections. Those connections ground me, root me and remind me of how much love surrounds me.
   There is something brewing in my being and it is bigger than I imagined.