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By Marilyn Rudy-Froese
Timbrel, November-December 2004 This spring, I decided to start walking in the morning. Four days a week, the alarm goes off at 6 a.m. and by 6:15 the dog and I are out the door. We follow the same route every morning, only varying its length depending on the weather or how many shrubs we’ve had to stop by! I have thought about taking different paths, but I like the fact that at that time of day I do not have to make any decisions. Following the same route allows my mind to focus on other things.
I love quilting for many reasons, not least of which is the repetitive nature of putting a quilt together. While much thought and planning, not to mention concentration, is needed in order to cut, piece, and quilt a quilt or wall hanging, the process also involves a lot of repeated actions. Piece after piece is cut, involving the same motion. Sitting at the sewing machine and feeding pieces of the quilt through to sew them together provides much space for my mind to focus on things other than my quilt project.
In a similar way, I find the process of washing dishes to be a relaxing and mind-freeing process. The predictable, repetitive act of washing each item does not require me to make any decisions. My hands know what needs to be done, allowing me to focus my thoughts elsewhere.
While these three activities appear to be unrelated, they share something in common. Each one, plus countless others that we do each day—having a shower, getting dressed, brushing our teeth—are repetitive, and because of the repetition, we know what to do and can allow our minds to wander. In each of these everyday activities, we can find and encounter the holy.
My early morning walks as well as my quilting are a form of spiritual discipline and expression for me. I use my morning walks to sing a hymn, to pray, to look at the beauty of nature surrounding me. In walking the same decision-free path each day, I gain the mental space I need for God.
In quilting, I am able to nurture my relationship with God through prayer for myself, others, and the world. As I cut, piece, and quilt, I think through and talk to God about all the things that are happening in my life. I bring my worries, my fears, my joys, and my sorrows to my quilting, and stitch in my feelings and my prayers. Because of the solitary nature of much of the quilting process, it provides many opportunities for communing with God.
I also believe that the communal nature of gathering around the quilt frame is an encounter with the holy, as women share their lives and stories with one another. The threading of the needles, the motion of the needle going up and down through the quilt, the tying off of the thread are all actions which connect us to one another and to God, when done in community and sharing with each other.
Because dishwashing isn’t something I choose to do, but rather something that needs to be done, I’m not always as deliberate about using that time as holy time. However, it is precisely because it doesn’t fall into the category of leisure activity or exercise that it lends itself to holy encounters.
I have always been drawn to the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42. But I’ve struggled with Jesus’ seemingly harsh words to Martha. As someone who finds it easier to do than to be, I’ve heard Jesus calling me to quiet contemplation and reflection, to keep my hands still so that my mind can focus on spiritual things. While I very strongly believe that this is a calling that I need to work on, I do not think that this is what Jesus was saying to Martha.
One of the keys to this text is the fact that Martha is busy and distracted. She is not listening to Jesus while she is working, but thinking about all the work that she has to do and resenting the fact that she is doing it alone. Jesus is calling her to be a better listener, to open her ears and her mind while she is working so that she can hear what Jesus is saying. Even with busy and active hands, the mind can be tuned to listen to and for the voice of God.
This story calls us to be open to encountering the holy at any moment of the day. It calls us to free our minds from things that distract us and allow our minds to be found and held by the mystery of a God who seeks us and finds us.
The ordinary chores and tasks of each day lend themselves to spiritual and holy encounters with God. We can turn mundane—and often undesirable—chores into moments of grace when we allow God to enter these times and transform them and us.
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