Chores

This shabbat I truly rested from a ny housework, which meant that there was plenty awaiting me this Sunday. I set to work first thing in the morning, getting some laundry ready and found a morning blessing melody swirling in my head. Taking that hint, I started on the blessings and made it about halfway through before I got interrupted by a baby needing attention.

Before long, I was folding laundry and resumed the blessings, now in the late morning. Adding blessings to chores not only made the chores go more easily but even reminded me that there are blessings in the folding of laundry, in the opportunity to do something mindfully with care and attention.

Baruch atah adonai eloheinu chey ha'olamim malbish asurim. Blessed are You, the Compassionate, our God, who clothes the naked. 

Blessed are You, the Everpresent, Our God, who brings holiness to the mundane.

As a bonus, I also got to look out the window at the trees as I folded. Just when I sang oter yisrael betifarah...who crowns Israel with splendor, out came the sun for the first time today, setting the turning leaves aglow.