Two things happened to me this weekend that are unrelated but for the fact that both were extremely unlikely, at least until this year. On Friday, Merry Maids came to my apartment for their initial deep cleaning. Those who know me at all know that cleanliness has not been anywhere near "next to Godliness" in my life, at least not for the last umpteen years. Speaking of Godliness, I also attended my childhood church this morning, a building I probably hadn't set foot in for almost 23 years. I think what I appreciate most is the financial modesty of the congregation. Very little of the interior decor had changed. Sadly, one of the more noticeable changes was that several rows of pews in the back had been removed to reflect declining attendance. I would actually wish that they would make some changes to brighten up the dated chancel area--a thought I had even back in the day. It's refreshing, though, to experience such frugality after experiences with two congregations whose approach towards fundraising and spending seemed dubious or even irresponsible.
The biggest change, however, is taking place in me. I have little appetite anymore for anything but a life founded on faith, family and frugality. I include frugality because it seems like the only way to maintain control over one's own identity. Those who spend freely--whether they be large institutions or individuals like (too often) me--seem to be doing so in a search for identity. On a coffee-related note, yesterday I was at Fiddleheads in Cedarburg. They redid the interior to make it uniform with their other locations. This, despite the fact that they have only been in that building for 5 or so years--and that it actually looked much nicer before. That, to me, seems wasteful. Though Merry Maids is a big expense for me, it turned my apartment into a home and will probably make me adjust the rest of my lifestyle. After arriving back to my clean home yesterday, I felt that all I could do was keep the lights off and crawl into bed, lest I sully it too much with my presence. Surely, that attests to the quality of the job they did!
Comments