a simple yarn

In our family, we desire Sunday to be a day of rest and reflection and as today is Sunday I am reflecting on how we spend our Sundays…

I love Sundays. For us, it is one day out of seven to replenish our bodies and renew our minds after we’ve been dashing about the other six. I love the intentionally slow pace…the peace…the quiet…okay, not always quiet when there are two children in the house.

Agenda-free
There is nothing to accomplish on a Sunday. Meandering, napping, listening to music, reading, sitting, pondering. It’s all about being, not doing, so whatever we are drawn to that day is where we find ourselves.

Kitchen-free
We all know where the fridge is and it’s well-stocked for foraging. And we clean up after ourselves so it’s ‘dish-free’ for me.

Squabble-free
It’s a day that is ’set apart’ out of the ordinariness of life, so we try to leave pettiness outside to enter our house another day (usually Monday morning!)

Techno-free
Mobiles off, breaking the compulsion to be ever-connected to the world.

Well, even as I reflect on how we spend our Sundays, I’m describing more the ideal of it than how it always occurs on a weekly basis. Life still happens…birthday parties, bored kids, forgotten laundry.

(I have to break in on myself here because in the constant humour of life, I’ve had to interrupt my reflections to help Kate with her newly-acquired bunny and its indoor poo-fest, unload the dishwasher as new dishes are piling up, and intervene between Kate, Alex and their DVD choices! How ironic! Ha!)

Even so, as we desire it, so we pursue it and as a family, I think, have benefited from it. And so I think I’ll finish by sharing a peaceful scene found in the National Gallery of Ireland made famous by Johannes Vermeer around 1670 for you to reflect on on this Sunday.