Simple and Slow Fridays: Peace & Dailiness

So how did it go this past week finding peaceful moments for yourself and your family?

I found peace in rocking babies to sleep, reading books, and watching the kids play in the snow. I found it in a good-morning kiss, a family meal, in holding a sleeping baby and in playing dominoes.


Peace is all around me, sometimes I just have to be looking for it and be more accepting of it.


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As I began thinking about this week's Simple and Slow Friday, I decided that it would be best to start at the beginning of the book and work my way through instead of picking and choosing chapters based on what is going on in my life. That way, those of you that are reading Mitten Strings for God can follow along better. It would have made the most sense to start that way in the beginning, but... oh well.

So anyway, let's start at the beginning with the first chapter, "Dailiness". Here are a couple excerpts for us to focus on this week:

The moments I hold most dear are those that arise unbidden in the course of any day-small, evanescent, scarcely worth noticing except for the fact that I am being offered, just for a second, a glimpse into another's soul. If my experience as a mother has taught me anything, it is to be awake for such moments, to keep life simple enough to allow them to occur, and to appreciate their fleeting beauty: a lip smacking good-night "guppy kiss"; a spoonful of maple syrup on snow, served to me in bed with great fanfare on a stormy winter morning; a conversation with a tiny speckled salamander discovered, blinking calmly, under a rock... These are the moments that, woven together, constitute the unique fabric of our family life. Herein lies the deep color, the lights and shadows of our days together. (p 7)

I love how the chapters of this book tie into the others. My short little blurb above on the peace I found this past week was all in the dailiness of my life. Nothing special. Nothing extraordinary. Just daily occurrences that bring me peace when I allow them to. Now that's special! :)

Like all mothers, I harbor dreams for my children, and sometimes I fall under the spell of my own aspirations for them. We want our children to do well! But when I stop and think about what I truly want for them, I know that it is not material wealth or academic brilliance or athletic prowess. My deeper hope is that each of my sons will be able to see the sacred in the ordinary; that they, too, will grow up knowing how to "love the dailiness." So, for their sakes as well as my own, I remind myself to slow down and enjoy the day's doings. The daily rhythms of life, the humble household rituals, the nourishment I provide - these are my offerings to my children, given with love and gratefully received. (p.13)

I love the last sentence, especially the phrases "daily rhythms of life" and "humble household rituals". There really are rhythms and rituals in my day. I like it that way. I find comfort in it. Maybe even a little peace...


Challenges for the week:

• What daily activities do you really enjoy?
• Any daily activities you dislike? How could you grow to like them more?
• Is there anything you've been wanting to incorporate into your daily routine? Try it this week.
• "Enjoy the day's doings."

Link back throughout the week (as many times as you like) with posts about "Dailiness" or anything you find to be slow and simply peaceful.