{"id":2536,"date":"2014-04-25T02:18:21","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T02:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oshetablogs.wordpress.com\/?p=2536"},"modified":"2014-04-25T02:18:21","modified_gmt":"2014-04-25T02:18:21","slug":"practicing-shalom-with-a-swiffer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/shalominthecity\/2014\/04\/practicing-shalom-with-a-swiffer\/","title":{"rendered":"Practicing Shalom with a Swiffer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"dusting\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I was younger, my daddy and I would play chess and plan my future:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daddy moves his white pawn to E4, \u201cSo, when you get to high school you\u2019re going to need to hit the extra-curricular hard; debate team and foreign language club.\u201d<\/p>\n

I move my black pawn to E5, \u201cwhich foreign language?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad\u2019s bishop to D6, \u201cAny will do, preferably Spanish since we\u2019re in Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanna learn French\u201d, I say as I move my pawn to F4<\/p>\n

He shrugs and takes my pawn, \u201cLike I said, any will do. Don\u2019t give up your small pieces too soon in the game, Osheta. You\u2019ll need them later. Have you figured out what type of law you want to study? You could be a public defender, since you have a soft heart for people in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

I stare at the board planning my next move; I so desperately want to impress him. Not seeing a way to capture his piece, I decide to have fun with the game. I move my knight to H3 just because I love to make him jump over the pawns to get to his place. \u201cNo, not yet. I\u2019ll figure that out when I get to college. I\u2019ll just stick to the plan and make captain of the debate team for my senior year, ok? When I get into a good school we\u2019ll figure that out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daddy moves a pawn to G5 and nods, \u201cThat\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

I can see that he\u2019s going after my knight and part of me feels like he\u2019s doing it just to ruin my fun. \u201cDaddy, sometimes I get called \u2018white\u2019 because of our plan for me go to college and become a lawyer.\u201d My knight takes his audacious pawn. I catch his eye and he smirks.<\/p>\n

I wonder if he moved that piece there just so I\u2019ll take it and have a moment of victory in our little game. \u201cSheeki (my childhood nickname), don\u2019t listen to those fools! Just remember this: when you come back from school with your degree and your high paying job, you can hire them to clean your house and take care of your kids. They\u2019ll be coming to you begging for work, saying \u2018remember when we were kids?\u2019 So let them say what they want now because some day you\u2019ll sign their paychecks.\u201d<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was my daddy\u2019s version of \u201chaters are going to hate\u201d. During our chess games, he strategically wove in me a sense of pride and expectation about my future: one day I was going to acquire a successful career, makes lots of money, and be the boss.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Which is why this morning when I decided to take my kids to work with me in honor of Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day<\/a>, I despaired a bit that I wasn\u2019t taking them to an office with a view; I took them to an apartment to work through a chore list.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t show-off the perks of free coffee and pastries in the break room; all I had to show was proof that I earned a family\u2019s trust with their house key.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t sit around an imposing conference table; I taught them how to intuit a family\u2019s need:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFold down the top sheet because it\u2019s super comfy to get into a well made bed\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cwipe under the glass of the coffee table to make it shine\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cfold the clothes a bit neater, \u2018k?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, my kids did not see Mama in an illustrious career as a lawyer or even my noble secondary choice of teacher, instead I took them to help me with my Tuesday\/Thursday gig of housekeeping for the sweetest, kindest young family.<\/p>\n

I, their black mama took them to the home of a white family and for a moment I wondered if I was harming my children more than helping.<\/strong> Should they see me in such a menial role? What messages am I sending them about the world and their worth as bi-racial children? What does it say about my worth as a black woman?<\/p>\n

In a culture where every little black girl looks up to Michelle Obama and every Thursday evening we\u2019re blown-away by Olivia Pope, I wonder if I\u2019m I throwing away the liberties afforded to me by the Civil Rights movement.\u00a0 Sometimes, I feel a deep, deep shame when I think about my choice to become a housekeeper.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a black woman\u2014we\u2019ve evolved from this, haven\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

Deciding whether or not to bring my kids to work with me today, I questioned my rejection of my father\u2019s carefully thought out plan and my lack of motivation to go to law school. That is, until I unlocked the door, surveyed the apartment, and realized there\u2019s a subversive beauty to not just being a housekeeper, but a black housekeeper for\u00a0 a white family in Cambridge.<\/p>\n

Today, as my children worked beside me, I sensed a deeper purpose than teaching a strong work ethic. It felt like Jesus modeling servant-hood at the last supper, strategically showing his disciples the greatest values of the Kingdom.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

With every instruction to my children to thoughtfully care for a this family\u2019s home as if our own, I told a new story on race and roles\u2014as Jesus followers there is no Jew or Greek, there is no room for racism; we seek respect, and unity for all people.<\/p>\n

As we gathered trash and wiped surfaces I showed my kids that sometimes love looks like sparkling Formica and hard-boiled eggs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With pictures of this lovely family surrounding us, I explained to them how the mama wanted to do all these things herself but she had to work outside the house and it\u2019s so exhausting to come home to from working to have to cook a meal AND take care of her baby. So their mama comes in to help.<\/p>\n

Their mama comes in to help.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, their mama is \u201cthe help\u201d and when I weighed whether I should bring my kids to clean house with me today, my daddy\u2019s strategic chess game conversations flooded back, forcing me to parse through a miasma of shame. Conventional knowledge says I should<\/em> be ashamed of myself, maybe even remorseful for not actualizing my potential, but in truth, I actually love being \u201cthe help.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love it because for two days a week I can simply love people outside my family with my hands. I get to extend grace over their messy and practice shalom with a Swiffer.<\/p>\n

Some may say it\u2019s degrading to get a to-do list of chores like a lazy child, but only if I let it.\u00a0 I only feel degraded by my choice to be a housekeeper when my pride makes me forget the teachings of Jesus, the wise Rabbi who strategically modeled the bedrock ethic of the kingdom: humility, hospitality, love.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

After washing their feet he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, <\/em>\u201cDo you understand what I was doing? You call me \u2018Master\u2019 and \u2018Lord,\u2019 and you do well to say it, for it is true.<\/em> 14\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other\u2019s feet.<\/em> 15\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>I have given you an example to follow: do as I have done to you.<\/em> 16\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>How true it is that a servant is not greater than his master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends him.<\/em> 17\u00a0<\/sup><\/em>You know these things\u2014now do them! That is the path of blessing.<\/em><\/p>\n

John 13:12-17<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We don\u2019t wash feet anymore. Our culture says \u2018haters are going to hate and ballers are going to ball and goddamnit, I\u2019ma get mine!\u201d But Jesus says that in his Kingdom, \u201cyou ought to wash each other\u2019s feet\u201d.\u00a0 When I go to work as a black domestic,\u00a0 I get to embody this teaching by doing their least favorite chores.\u00a0 Twice a week I humble myself to the lowest position in their household\u2019s structure. Twice a week I feel connected to my Servant King in a profound way.<\/p>\n

This black woman is a housekeeper so that at least twice a week I\u2019m moved to pray for a white family and come to terms with my own prejudice. It would be so easy for me to sit in my little apartment and hold a grudge against \u201cthe man\u201d. Not only would it be easy\u2014it\u2019s expected! I\u2019m a black woman who has a kickass mastery of the head wobble\u2014angry black woman is my thang! But I\u2019m a Jesus girl before I\u2019m a black woman, so twice a week, I force myself to pray through my prejudices and watch them spiral away from my soul as if soapy dishwater down the drain.<\/p>\n

Today, I loved being a black domestic in front of my children because someday when they\u2019re older and choosing their own careers I want them to remember that mama asked, \u201chow can I love\u201d before she asked \u201chow much does it pay?\u00a0 As strategic as my daddy\u2019s chess games and plans for future success, inviting my children to clean house with me was my way teaching them to find success in the kingdom\u2019s economy of love. By practicing shalom with a Swiffer, I\u2019m dusting away the shame of not achieving career success so that my children and I can walk down the path to blessing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s subversive and strategic and so Jesus and this servant cannot be greater than her master.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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