Doing the laundry with Mother Theresa

Mother Theresa said, "Do small things with great love." 

And so we should, or at least we should try. Sometimes I forget the love.

I remember years ago I was folding the laundry and I was rushing through it. Piling up everyone's clothes. And she said, "Do it with love. Do it like you love them." And irritation rose in my reddening face. I swallowed it and kept on piling. The little socks rolling off the top of the pile. The neighbour I knew meant me well, but in fact it felt like a sermon. That was probably my fifth load of laundry that week and in truth, I was folding it with neglect if one had to choose a word to describe it. I was folding it fast and those little polyester socks were always missing their match.

On that day I thought I would be folding size 6x pants for eternity. And I felt that way because I was in the moment. Being in the moment is not always what it is cracked up to be. It too can be daunting. Not caught in the past, not planning for the future just doing the laundry with love or boredom, or whatever you got.

There is no magic whisper that makes everything perfect. At times we have to chase love and carry it back to our hearts, to our homes, our work, to the laundry. And you know this is perfectly normal. We are not always going around singing and making the house smell like fresh baked bread. Sometimes the house smells like you burnt the onions or you cooked hard boiled eggs.

And on those days we have to deliberately look for love, or joy, or cinnamon. We have to be patient and tender with ourselves. And as I tell you this, much like my neighbour would tell me. I can also tell you in truth that I am at times not tender or patient with myself. And I want to be better about this. I want to fold the laundry with love but I don't want to be told that I should do that. The only person who can make me more tender with myself is me. That is my job to do. And all I can do is practice. Practice and grow, and sometimes practice and fail. 

And I will. For it is a small thing to be tender with yourself. And we can sometimes ".. do small things with great love.