Doing the Chores

12 Kamal 164 B.E. – August 12, 2007

Lately I’m doing a lot of housework and it’s gotten me to thinking about my Grandmother. She enjoyed housework much more than I do, but she never did call it housework. Instead, my Grandmother referred to it as “doing the chores”. However, it didn’t seem like housework was a chore to her.

I remember when we were small she would let us help her with the dishes or making the beds. Grandma was very talented when it come to making beds. She could do hospital corners perfectly. I’m not that talented, I never was. I don’t think she ever got me to do hospital corners the way she could do them and she tried.

Another thing my grandma didn’t use was a sponge mop. I can understand why, at least most of the time. I did find a sponge mop on the patio that works OK. I’m not saying it’s good at getting up spills and stuff like that first time, but at least it doesn’t leave the floor streaked. However, my grandmother never used a sponge mop. She used a rag mop. She would take an old towel or something like that, put in on the end of a mop, and use that on the floor. She would wring it out by hand. She did that for years, even when arthritis made it difficult for her to wring it out, she still used the rag mop. Of course, her arthritis didn’t appear very bad or she didn’t complain about it.

Another thing my grandmother did, when she couldn’t sleep at night she would get up and vacuum the floors. Not that her floors were very dirty, still she would get up a vacuum. Sometimes she would vacuum every night if she couldn’t sleep. I on the other hand don’t vacuum at night, what I do is get up and go online.

I do have to admit one thing, I’m enjoying housework a lot more than I used to. I’m still not overjoyed about doing dishes by hand, but I do like to do laundry. I’ve found myself enjoying watching the washing machine fill with water lately, before I put the cloths in. I even found myself enjoying mopping the hall this morning, maybe it was because the sponge mop I found on the patio worked better than the others did. It could also be I’ve found myself taking a more spiritual approach to housework lately.

I’m not doing the housework or “the chores” for myself anymore. I’m doing them for Baha’u’llah. While I do “the chores” I review scripture verses I’ve learned. It’s an intriguing approach to a job that I’ve always found tedious, but I don’t find it that way any more.