He laughs in the swing, engulfed in his journey to the sky and back. I breathe to remember where I stand.
Push, breathe.
Push, breathe.
Push, breathe.
I am a mother of young children. I am forming the consciousness of the next generation.
Our earliest caretakers write the script for the inner voice that speaks to us for the duration of our lives.
For many of us, that inner voice is a compass pointing us in the direction of our mothers. What an invaluable role that is.
As a mother of young children, everything is done on repeat.
Again! they cry, and I answer with another push, another vroom of the toy car, another round of kissing that nose, that chin, that belly.
On the surface, it looks mundane.
But with a little more depth, you’ll see it’s meditative.
The domestic life—that of homemakers and caretakers of children, the elderly, and the sick—is seen as “less than” in societies steeped in patriarchy.
It is monotonous and hidden.
It is vitally important but minimized.
For millennia, women have traditionally held these domestic roles. This is not a reality to fight, but one to embrace:
Mother God is the face of the Divine in the domestic.
She is imprinted on our psyches and souls.
Women are historically the ones to assist in childbirth and sit with the dying. We have been the ones creating spaces for hospitality and nourishing our families with food.
It is work all of humanity can appreciate, but it is not celebrated or respected in the same way as work outside of the home.
As the patriarchy is dismantling, women are able to choose where they contribute.
More women are giving their energy to the public sphere, creating a softer, more balanced world for all of us.
At the same time, many of us are still choosing domestic work, like staying home with our children, elderly parents, or disabled siblings, or we are choosing work that places us in the homes of other families: cleaning, preparing food, or caring for their children.
Domestic work is equally essential to a thriving society.
In some ways, it is more so.
We all need a soft place to land—every child, partner, parent, and friend.
We all need the comfort and nourishment of a good meal, the connection of sitting around the table.
We all need places to gather, somewhere to call home.
We have holidays like Mother’s and Father’s day to celebrate domestic contributions, but what does it look like for us to begin valuing the domestic in the same way as the public?
The work done in the public sphere, in business, government, and church, is inherently highlighted in its visibility.
But the domestic is invisible, another reason it is deeply profound, a journey of spiritual refinement to be pushed to your limit day after day in obscurity.
No one sees the 100th push of the swing.
No one hears the 100th breath, grounding the caretaker that understands the calling to be present, to do what is asked again and again, to form the next generation with presence and love.
No one is there as the laundry piles up and disappears, as the floors are being cleaned yet again, as the dishes are done and photos are captured.
This life is mundane, this life is meditative. Thank you for the gift that it is.
As we learn to value our feminine contributions, we will begin to know the Divine Feminine.
We will see the necessity and beauty of domestic work.
We will see the value in every meal, cuddle, and kiss, of picking up the toys again and again.
We will see that domestic work is a direct line to Mother God who sees us in it all.
She rejects the mundane in favor of the meditative, every motion that repeats is done with a sacred knowing that opportunities for depth are everywhere.
The simplicity of the task is a direct line to the Divine, an invitation to see all that is as it is.
Every inhale and exhale is a moment of presence, nurturing, and connection.
This is motherly love...
Meeting needs from a grounded place of wholeness while going unseen,
Tapping into the patterns of the soul,
And weaving the fabric of the universe with every push of the swing.