We have our second Annual Christmas Market Place coming up in November. Everyone in the congregation is being encouraged to think about how they can become involved. I have been making jams and jellies and pickles – all with the idea that it might sell in the Market Place Christmas Pantry. Yesterday I spent my day off making one more batch of jam and a batch of salsa.
Last week my Spiritual Director asked me what I was doing for fun these days. It took me a minute to think of what could be considered fun in my last few weeks of activities. Then I mentioned that I have been making preserves. While it is a lot of work I do get a great deal of satisfaction out of looking at the line up of jars at the end of the day. She commented on preserving as a kind of meditation and I had an ‘aha’ moment. It is a kind of meditation. Finding or picking the produce, preparing the fruit or vegetables, stirring while it slowly cooks to just the right consistency, watching the boiling hot-water ‘bath’ that seals the jars, checking them as they cool and listening to hear each lid pop, then washing and labeling and storing the jars away for winter. It is a labour intensive and gratitude inducing process. Taking the raw gift of creation and turning it to a treasure for winter dining.
Work as meditation is not a new thought for me but one I have not considered for a while. I remember a mentor years ago saying her best meditations often happened once the kids had gone to school and the house was quiet and she washed the dishes. Standing with her hands in warm, soapy water, staring out the kitchen window, as she did the routine repetetive process of washing, rinsing and drying an hour could pass while she talked to God and let her mind drift to holy moments. When her meditation was over her dishes would be done too!
Last week I visited a home and a young woman told me she loved sweeping the floor. She finds it relaxing. The other woman chimed in, “That’s why I love to rake the lawn it gives me time to think.”
Jesus spent a lot of time walking around Galilee. I suspect that many of those walks were times of meditation for him.
Do you have a task that some would consider work but that you experience as a time to meditate?
