Features - Work

I’ve got the next killer idea: A riding vacuum cleaner. Yes, a riding vacuum cleaner, the feminine equivalent of a riding lawn mower. Of course I know men also vacuum. And women cut lawns. I am speaking only for myself. I vacuum. Nearly every day, in fact. The world of housework will never be complete until I can climb on my vacuum cleaner like a 23rd century witch and zoom around the house with indolent ease.

I think about housework in my grandmother’s time, scrubbing floors on hands and knees, and I know how good I have it. Believe me, I do. And there is sanctity in cleaning. Every time I stoop to pull a tangle of hair from the brushy roller-thing under my upright, it teaches me the value of humility, of submission to a Higher will. This I need. It’s a small way of saying, “Thy will be done”...even when it is unpleasant to do so.

-Lori Strawn

Clean and Clear

Sometimes when I think
I can't scrub the dirt off
the kitchen floor
(or my soul)
I want to give up,
but I get down on my knees.

You've shown me that
practical prayers and elbow grease
accomplish so many things.
I say grace for the clearing,
the cleansing, the calm;
for everything I feel inside, but haven't said,
for seeing who I actually was underneath the film,
for the fact that You never gave up on me.

I get up off my knees and thank You;
for allowing me to work for what I want,
so I know I've earned it and You've blessed it.

-Ruth Williams

"What are some of the chores that make you humble?"