Repetition

I don"t know what really got me thinking about repetition, but I found scribbled notes on a brown paper bag related to the topic in the center of my desk. Obviously sometime in the last week or so, when I have been very busy, repetition played on my mind. The notes were covered with a stack of papers, and were obviously so important at the moment that I placed them "front and center." Today I look at them and wonder!

I don't like repetition, I am not an orderly soul, and yet I realize that there are many daily tasks that are required and necessary, and are definitely repetitious. Actually, now I remember, I was cleaning the kitchen after supper and sputtering about the fact that so much of what happened every day was repeated over and over again.

Whether we like it or not, repetition is an important part of daily life. It is a skill to be mastered gracefully. Make the bed. Brush your teeth. Do the dishes. Dust the furniture. Pick up books, papers, shoes.....the list goes on. I remember my son Stephen struggling with the nature of repetition as a second grader. School for him was painful, it required the same daily rituals. One night after a particularly frustrating day he said "Mom why do we have to write our numbers over and over? " My answer, now I realize not very satisfactory,  was something to the effect: "Your teacher wants to make sure you know them." "But Mom, when I have done them right for four pages, doesnt she know that?" Had I been wise enough maybe I could have shared with him the fact that indeed life is filled with repetition. Maybe those early exercises actually have little to do with learning shapes, or math or spelling - maybe they have more to do with preparation for the rest of our life.

I have been fortunate that in my profession as pastor and chaplain there is a great deal of variety in the content of my daily work, even though the overall schedule may look repetitious. No two people every present exactly the same spiritual journey. The scriptures for worship and preaching, while coming from a three year lectionary may seem to contain repetition, in reality they always spring fresh from the page. As I pray the Daily Office, again it may look very similar day to day, month to month or year to year, but what I bring to it, and what I experience in reflection and silence is always different.   

In recent years I have been working on "mindfulness" and that has taught me to realize that even the simple repetitive tasks of daily living, if done mindfully always reveal something new, about myself or the task. For example when I bring all of myself to the slicing of carrots for supper, I notice the richness of the deep orange color, the circles in each slice, the texture and smell. This can connect me with the farmer who grew them, the rain and the sun that swelled the seed and caused it's growth, the amazing fact that the universe supplies us with such an abundance of different foods to choose from. These thoughts can make me aware of  the need for protection of diversity into our world, and the need to live in ways that foster sustainability. All of this from slicing a carrot!

There are times when I find comfort in a repetitive tasks.  Whether I see their benefit or not they remain  a part of the life cycle. As we watch the season change from summer to fall, and move soon to winter, we witness the repetition from life to death to life. It is in the fallow times, when repetition seems arduous that the unseen seeds are germinating, sprouting,  waiting for the right moment to spring to life. May I learn to be patient with my imagination and my soul. May I be willing to stick with a routine whether I see its purpose or not, so that in time I might harvest the fruits that will surely grow.