Other housekeeping tasks, like cooking, can even be raised to an art form. I’m not talking about gourmet cooking here, though there’s nothing wrong with that! Even small actions become works of art when they are done thoughtfully and out of love.
St. Francis of Assisi said, “He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands, head, and heart is an artist.”
What exactly does that mean? A laborer’s job takes physical strength and coordination. It doesn’t necessarily require much thinking, which is why people sometimes complain about “mindless work.” (Even if you think housework belongs in this category, keep reading!)
The next level, the craftsman, does require thinking. Animals can work together as laborers to build anthills or beehives, but they cannot think and reason as humans can. Craftsmen can take a piece of raw material and make it into something new. They can look at a problem and come up with a creative solution through reason and imagination.
TRANSCENDENTALS
Artists go one step further. Their goal is not merely utilitarian: finding a solution to a problem, or material: making a useful object. Their goals have to do with transcendental attributes of being: the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.
Artists strive to reflect one or more of these ideals in their work, whichever medium they use. Philosophy and Law are ordered to Truth. Composing music, painting, and other forms of art reflect Beauty. Philosophy and Theology search for Goodness.
What does this have to do with scrubbing pots and sweeping the floor? It has to do with the end: the “Why” of the artist, laborer, or craftsman.
It’s not so much the subject of your work that defines which category you fall into. There are artists, craftsmen, and laborers working in all of the fields listed above, even though we would consider most of them professionals.
Have you ever noticed a wide discrepancy in the level of service provided by different employees in an establishment? Perhaps you visit your favorite restaurant on a special date night with your husband. Your waitress is abrupt, inattentive, and makes several mistakes with your order.
You happen to notice a different waitress at the next table carefully explaining the menu selections to her customers, checking on them regularly, and ensuring their satisfaction with their dining experience.
Now, perhaps the first waitress was just having a bad day, but in general, the level of service indicates how much the worker cares about her work and the people she serves. It’s easy to tell in the service industry who loves their job, and who is merely in it for the money.
Why do you show up for work? The answer to that question can mean the difference between a dissatisfied, empty life and one that is meaningful and fulfilling.
The Transforming Power of Love
Can you imitate a Transcendental without pouring your heart into it? Does anyone win a marathon without pouring his or her heart into it? No–unless there aren’t any other fast runners!
But in all earnestness, no human creation can encompass a Transcendental. It will always be something above and beyond our best efforts, something we cannot quite capture. For this reason, they are sometimes called Perfections. Artists strive to capture some aspect of Goodness, Truth, or Beauty in their work, and they do this through love.
Love transforms our efforts, be they ever so mundane. Mother Teresa spent years taking care of dirty, sick, “useless” people. Bathing and feeding people doesn’t seem like art, but her love transformed her work into something beyond herself.
That’s part of the key. When something takes you out of yourself and makes you focus completely on another person, that’s love. Even if the work you have to do isn’t exciting. Even if the people you serve aren’t starving foreign children, but your own family members.
Mother Teresa said, “It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.”
If you wash the breakfast dishes with love, you’re an artist. If you fold the laundry with love, you’re an artist.
LOVE PAYS ATTENTION
Here is one my favorite quotes from one of my favorite novels. The author is describing the effects of learning not to rush through life.
When you slow down and pay attention to each separate task instead of cramming as much as you can into the day, a surprising thing happens. There’s still time for everything important, and you appreciate it more.
“Then the small things, the necessary things, even the ordinary, everyday things, especially those one performed with one’s hands–how mysterious that man could do such beautiful things with his hands–were revealed as works of art.”
The Awakening of Miss Prim, Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera
The amount of attention we give someone or something reflects how much we love them. If we always rush through our tasks, we can’t do them with love. Love stops and looks into the face of her beloved.