Repeats

Today we're not doing anything new.  We're doing things we've done many times before.  We're putting curds into the mold and pressing another block of cheese.  We're grinding wheat and making another loaf of bread.  We're churning butter and cooking squash and curing pepperoni and doing laundry.  We're making dinner, washing dishes, and milking the cow.

This lifestyle has lots of repeats.  When spring arrives there will be new things — soil to turn, seeds to plant, new things to eat — but for now we're eating the same old things and doing the same old things.

A friend of mine asked me if I enjoyed all the repetition.  It got me thinking about other repetitions in life — eating, showering, reading stories, cuddling babies, celebrating holidays.  There are many things we do over and over but impart great happiness.  I've just celebrated my 43rd Christmas and it was very similar to previous years, but it was still wonderful and magical, and it was different than any Christmas before.

There is something about this lifestyle, with all its repetitions, that imparts happiness.  Each cheese is not exactly like the one before it.  Each loaf of bread is slightly different.  Each batch of butter is unique.  Just like each kiss and hug is not exactly like the one before it.   Like each experience of God is unique and feels like a new ah-ha.

Yes, this life is full of repetition, but aren't all of the best things in life?