As the holidays grow close, the chores to create a special time of the year seem to grow on top of each other. Every year I think to myself, why do I do this? Does anyone really appreciate all the effort it takes to create Christmas?
Gift buying, jam making, wrapping, decorating, baking, delivering, mailing, holiday cards, cooking...the list goes on and on.
And sometimes it's just plain exhausting.
Add in the working a 9-5, Christmas markets, church activities, dance, parades, parties, light shows, socials, a wedding anniversary and the calendar is packed full. Of all wonderful things, to be sure, but still packed.
We all cope with these demands in different ways. If you have been with me for a while, you know my go-to is my mat. Yoga keeps me sane. So do showers with wonderful smelling salt scrubs. And this year, so do my grandchildren. Watching their little faces as the marching bands go by in the Christmas parade is nothing short of a God-sent gift.
And yet, the chores must be done.
On those days, I chop wood and carry water. Those days when I want nothing more to do than curl up in the bed and get lost in a book. Or better yet, write my book. Disappearing for just a time into Venice, MS where I can tell all the people in my story what to do and how to do it.
But duty calls, duties I don't want to shirk because to do so would then not be quite so magical for me. Because in truth, all the things I do for the holiday I do for me, just as much as for my friends and family. It feeds my soul to experience all the season has to offer. I want to grab it with both hands.
When I deliver the jam and bread bags to friends as a thank-you for being a part of my life, watch family open gifts, sit down to a table full of family recipes, curl up in front of the fire and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" while eating homemade cookies, dressing up for the next social event, taking pictures in front of the decorated tree...
It feeds my soul. I want that feeling again.
And this is where the quote comes from:
"Before enlightenment; chop wood and carry water.
After enlightenment; chop wood and carry water."
Isn't this true for all things? All the things that make you feel that peaceful, blissful, soul-filled contentment?
It does for me. And so today I will chop wood and carry water.
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