![\"photo-1445197138520-6099f1c07aa0_opt\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/578\/2016\/11\/photo-1445197138520-6099f1c07aa0_opt-300x164.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis house is too comfortable to keep referring to it as hanging around in Babylon. Although, ever wonder why All the people didn\u2019t go back to Israel after the exile? Lots of them stayed, as I\u2019m sure you know. It was probably because their houses were so comfortable and the economy was so great.<\/p>\n
Like this house. It\u2019s hard for me to avoid being preciously lyrical. It\u2019s so pretty, it\u2019s just so so so pretty.
\n*********************
\nThe thing about this house, as I\u2019ve already said and keep on saying, is that it lifts and relieves me of the burden of myself. Instead of wandering around in the Depression of Binghamton, I look out the window and am transported to think about something else, like, what should we have for luncheon, or, I wonder how I can get the dust out of that high corner. The house wants me to do housework, but not petulantly, not reproachfully. It\u2019s like the reason housework was invented\u2013to take one out of oneself.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never experienced the work of the house in this way. One reason I like being busy at church, doing interesting jobs like cleaning cupboards, painting wooden disciples, or digging through bins of paper looking for last year\u2019s Christmas pageant script is because when I\u2019m doing those things I\u2019m not having time to worry about myself and my own ego.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s possible to be too busy and never think. And it\u2019s also possible to be busy and think. And it\u2019s possible to be not busy and not think. Housework should exist in the category of busy and thinking. That somehow as you carry on with the tasks of caring for a household, you should be lifted up enough out of yourself to think, but not so much that you crowd your hands with poverty of mind. I\u2019m sure someone\u2019s already written a book about this. I should find and read it.
\n*************************
\nSpeaking of reading, the primordial problem I have always had is that I want to sit and read, and feel like I ought to sit and read, but the moment I sit down to read I remember the laundry, dishes, school reports, seasonal clothes change, dirt in the basement, porch that needs sweeping, gardening stuff that needs put away, papers on the desk that need sorted, gross stuff at the back of the fridge, email that needed responding, and so the long day wears on. At this moment of remembrance, I don\u2019t then stand up to do those things, I sooth the chaos of my spirit with the Internet. But this is not the same as reading a book. It actually contributes to the chaos, but it lies and tells me it will be a rest. I don\u2019t have a lot of time, I should do all these other necessary tasks, I\u2019m about to be interrupted anyway, I will just glance at Twitter. And then an hour a later I\u2019m still looking at Twitter but now I\u2019m angry and I didn\u2019t do any of those things and I didn\u2019t read a book either.
\n***************************
\n\u201cFor the week of thanksgiving, lets lie around and read,\u201d said Matt.
\n\u201cBut what about the clothes change over?\u201d I asked. \u201cAnd it\u2019s going to snow so we should clean out the garage so we can park the car in it.\u201d
\nOur faces fall. We stop speaking and wander away to read another article.
\n****************************
\n\u201cFor thanksgiving, though, wouldn\u2019t it be nice to do Apple Dumplings and Pumpkin Creme Br\u00fbl\u00e9e, instead of pie?\u201d I\u2019ve floated the idea a couple of times. Everyone stares at me in a haze of uncomprehending. They can hear words coming out of my mouth but they don\u2019t mean anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo just the usual potato then, and pie and so on.\u201d The children nod and drift away. This isn\u2019t the moment to do anything new. That would be stupid.
\n****************************
\nWe\u2019ve had our extra puppy for a year now, as of this week. I\u2019ve tried to rename him Kylo Ren and Pepin the Short and also Titus. But he remains Posy. He is just as evil and bad tempered as when we first got him. We\u2019ve spent a year apologizing to everyone about him. I guess it\u2019s finally time to watch the dog whisperer. The force of our collective disapproval has not be enough to overcome his essential nature. What a disappointment.
\n****************************
\nHave a lovely Saturday! Enjoy the Snow!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This house is too comfortable to keep referring to it as hanging around in Babylon. Although, ever wonder why All the people didn\u2019t go back to Israel after the exile? Lots of them stayed, as I\u2019m sure you know. It was probably because their houses were so comfortable and the economy was so great. Like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2373,"featured_media":5459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n