House of Belief

Today I'm giving extra attention to my house and garden. I want this to be the year that I complete a cycle of care that starts like this:

• 
  January: Clean mold, paint the windows, plan and tidy the garden.
• February: Clear excess stuff from each room, start seeds and prepare beds.
• March: Spring cleaning, wash windows, early planting

And I also want to better express our family ideas and beliefs in my house and garden, with creativity and thoughtfulness.

Agenda:

1. House of Belief plan

2. Sanctuary intentions

3. Spirit of Winter meditation

4. House cleaning in the bathroom

1. House of Belief plan:

I've been reading House of Belief by Kelee Katillac: 

"If only we could live nobly, walking a spiritual path, certain of our own potential. If only we could find the means to live above modern skepticism that can ice our hearts, keeping our spirits from the life giving movement of belief."

The premise of her book is that when we create representations of our beliefs and dreams with art and crafts, or seek out and surround ourselves with meaningful objects, our beliefs become concrete - no longer abstract - and we can more easily accept them as truth.

My plan is to begin to add our beliefs to our house and garden little by little this year - you will be hearing more!

2. Sanctuary intentions:

I've been reviewing my essential intentions for thought and action this week. Today-

I intend to make my home a sanctuary, a sacred space of refuge for myself and my family, and a place where dreams and beliefs can take root.

3. Spirit of Winter meditations:

I have a morning prayer ritual: Soon after dawn (7:41 a.m. today) I shuffle out the back door in my slippers, let the ducks out of their coop, refill their food bowl, and grab a small handful of sunflower seeds from a container I keep on the back porch. 

Then I pause and look at the sky, the trees, my back garden, and just breath for a moment. I greet the day and the Spirit of Creation with a little prayer: "I remember Thee," and toss out a small handful of sunflower seeds into the flower bed, my daily offering to nature.

This little ritual that I just began to practice a month ago has already helped me to remember to slow down and notice the weather and the season we are in. 

My Living earth devotional reading asked me "Does my land have a different spirit or feel to it in winter?" and I would say yes - at least in the morning, it's a close, heavy, rather sulky feeling. (I expect the Spirit is a little resentful of all the wood smoke hanging in the valley air, or maybe that's me.)

This morning I'm going to walk downtown, and I plan to continue my dawn observations and see if I can discern anything else about the Spirit of Winter in our valley.

4. House cleaning in the bathroom

I am well into my January month of deep cleaning, taking care of mold-related issues in my house. This week I've been working on the bathroom. I hope to-

• Clean the baseboards and floor, and wash the rug.
• Clean and dust the shelves.
• Scrub the mildew off the ceiling and walls with detergent and warm water, then use a solution of ¼-cup bleach in 1-quart water. Wait 20 minutes, apply Borax solution and do not rinse, to help prevent mold from growing again.
• Repaint the ceiling. (Maybe blue with clouds and birds?)