Saying goodbye to wooden spoons.

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I used to have a huge wooden spoon colored with stews and sauces and the beginnings of my kids' lives. When I separated I left the spoon because it felt strange to remove it from the house. It felt strange to remove myself too.

Recently I decided to purchase a long large spoon. I am not sure anyone notices, the ceramic pot holding the spoons, but it is one of the touchstones of my sacred life. A day begins here with oatmeal and eggs scrambled slowly, slowly. Creamy eggs. It ends here after the dishes are washed following bowls of pasta and broths and mashed potatoes. The kids love mashed potatoes.

As time moves I keep stirring. No matter where I live there will be the spoons and the soup pots filled with magic and the vintage ceramic kettles making tea, over and over. The roots. The rhythm. The sacred.

Dave and I are bound to where we live as divorced parents often are, and I can get lost in fantasies of one day being able to have a farmhouse on acres and acres of land with animals running around and our kids coming and going as adult children not worried about which of their parent's houses they are at this week or that.

I am anchored by the spoons and the sponges and the cast iron pots into these moments here now. To not feel bound but blessed. My word of the year for the last two years has been DEVOTIONAL and I'm not done with it. I ask myself questions like, "How can washing the dishes be a devotional? How can food feel more devotional? How can I bring more devotion into my relationship? When I'm outside where do I feel devotion?"

Have you ever watched someone wash dishes in pure anger? Words of frustration pour out and you feel sorry for the pot that is in their hands? Angry cleaning. I am no stranger to angry cleaning.

And do you know the feeling when you are hand washing your most precious mug because you don't trust the dishwasher with it? The way you softly hold it under the hot water and admire it as you set it down to dry? Memories flow through you and you are held in beauty.

Devotional. Life isn't black and white, we live in the spaces between. We dip in and out. Sometimes we are angry. And sometimes we choose to let it go.

A sacred life is built around these tiny moments of devotion. A mug. A spoon. Honoring our anger. Blessing ordinary moments. Layering beauty. The sound of water boiling in a kettle. The feel of a wool sponge in your hands. Nachos on Friday nights. Listening to the sounds of this life. Sweeping the crumbs away. Lighting the candle after dishes are done. Beginning again in the morning with a wooden spoon and your favorite mug and the promise of mashed potatoes for supper.