One Thing Leads to Another: Tuesday's Reflection

It all started with the table in the entry.

Even though the look of winter continues outside with the addition of even more snow this past weekend, I was weary of the wintry vignette which has been on the entry table since the beginning of the new year. I was ready for a change. 

I started with pussy willows. I tried a number of vases--the whole too small, too big routine until I finally landed on "just right." 

Actually, I didn't really start with the pussy willows. A couple weeks ago when I organized my scarf drawer, a' la Marie Kondo, I spotted a scarf my sister had given me and thought it would make a lovely runner on a table. And it does, but, of course, it needed to be ironed. Out came the ironing board and iron.

While ironing the scarf, now runner, in the garret, I got the idea to use my soft sculpture of an African woman made for me by a good friend years ago. I call the doll Mama Nancy, and she sometimes sits on the ledge by my desk or close to the area where I meet with spiritual directees. This past week I took her with me to the T'ai Chi class I have been teaching, and she stood in the middle of the circle during our closing meditation. Why not bring her down to the first floor?

Mama Nancy is holding under her arm a cloth labyrinth, a fairly recent addition given to me by another friend, and that led me to add a small metal labyrinth to the arrangement and a couple books about pilgrimages and labyrinths. Voila! A new look in our small entryway.

Done. Not quite.

Many more changes for the rest of the first floor followed, including a search for a yellow lamp in every storage area, cupboard, and closet. Eventually, the lamp was found and looks happy on the chest-of-drawers in the bedroom. 




All of this took much longer than the hour I assumed it would take. 
How true it is that one thing leads to another and another. Of course, the logical question is "Why bother?" 

Well, I like variety and the ability to make simple and pleasing changes.

But more than that I am interested in what happens as one thing leads to another. What do I notice for the first time? What new thoughts occur to me in the midst of a process? Where does this process lead?

Here's where my day of minor changes in the house led me: To a different place for morning meditation. 

One of my Lenten resources is  Simplifying The Soul, Lenten Practices to Renew Your Spirit by Paula Huston. That morning's practice was to "set up a special place for prayer." I didn't think about that too much because I already have a wonderful place for prayer--my Girlfriend Chair in the garret. 

Lent is a time to approach each day in a more contemplative way; a time to examine the routines and the boundaries I have established in my spiritual life. What would happen if instead of going up to the garret, where my laptop and writing projects live, first thing in the morning, I moved into the snug for my meditation time? 

I gathered my journal and Lenten devotional books and Bible and found a basket for them and moved them next to my chair in the snug. In the morning sun I am less tempted to answer emails and to move into the tasks of the day. There will be time for all that, I know. Now I sit in the snug's silence. I observe and listen to the movement of spirit. 

Who knows where that will lead, for one thing leads to another. 

An Invitation
What minor changes can you make that might open you to another change? I would love to know.