Routine Love


I’ve been trying to change the momentum of a few of our household routines. Some of our daily patterns serve us well, some not so much.

Take, for instance, washing dishes. I, for one, have likened that task to a Special Event, one which is most preferably experienced only on rare occasion (sorry to shock those of you who are further ahead on the Clean Club Learning Curve!).

Turns out, however, that washing dishes is much more helpful ~ and much less onerous ~ when done regularly and as a natural completion of each meal. And there really is something to be said for being able to find the countertop.


It's not always this bad. Sometimes it's worse.


The other day the kids are I were reviewing the things we need to do each morning to start the day right. “If I were to use the term Morning Routine,” I said to them in my most scholarly voice, “What would that include for you?”

Young Man chimed in right away. “Make bed, take inhaler, hug Crazy Puppy and brush teeth.”

Young Lady, not so impressed with my line of questioning, rolled her eyes and said in a rather exasperated tone, “Brush half of my teeth and cuddle with Baby.”

(No hidden meaning here, Mom. Just Young Lady’s name for Crazy Puppy. And no, I don’t know which half of the teeth she was referring to.)

At first, my task-oriented side was ready to pounce on the whole Puppy Love Fest idea. Here I am talking about All The Things We Need To Do and the kids are already getting distracted by ways in which to get distracted.


Distraction Numero Uno and loving it


And then it hit me. Love has *every* place in our schedule. Why not allow our 'official' routine to explicitly honor the innate overflow of love already taking place each and every morning?

Sometimes I think that I’m so quick to fear Obligation-Driven-Love-Gone-Dry that I miss the many ways that love expresses itself routinely. Not that love itself is routine, but that there’s a unique beauty to a love that recurs and repeats and shows up in our schedule in ways we can anticipate and regularly partake. It’s a tenacious and persistent kind of love. Far from the dramatic stuff of which romance novels are made, but a quiet reflection of the love that keeps our souls alive.

So Crazy Puppy gets his place in our morning routine. And Love keeps its appointment in our hearts.

Routine love. May it be so.






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