Care of the Hermitage

Recognizing my home as a particular kind of holy space has resulted in some interesting changes in how I approach tasks that used to be routine, or even bothersome.  Let me explain.

Yesterday I had planned to host a friend for lunch, and realized that the bathrooms all needed cleaning.  This has typically been my least favorite housekeeping job.  It is also the area that I notice the most; if it's not clean, it bothers me.  Before my friend arrived, the bathrooms needed to be cared for.

And therein lies the difference!  In the past, it would have been a burden, a chore, a necessary evil to have to scrub and swipe and sanitize those hard-to-reach spots.  But now it is a chance to care for an intimate and necessary part of this space that has been granted to me.  It is a chance to share that space with someone, and it is an expression of my care for my guest that I want them to have a clean space when they visit.  It made me smile to care for my spaces, and know that this humble service was an expression of good will, both for the place and for the person.

I sometimes imagine the Desert Ammas in their very small, spare desert spaces, keeping their few belongings in order, cleaning whatever they needed for cooking and eating, making sure that their own hermitage was ready for someone to come with a question or a prayer.  It comforts me to think of caring for my hermitage as a form of spiritual discipline in the desert tradition.  It is, perhaps, a prime example of finding the holy tucked quietly in the most ordinary of daily tasks.  It is, in the humblest of ways, contemplation in action.