“Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water.” ~ Zen proverb.

Jessie Klassen – When you live on a farm, such as I do, your day is centred around your chores. There are mouths to feed (both human and animal) that depend on you, and they will always come first. All other activities happen somewhere between these daily chores.

When I was a child, my parents had a herd of milk cows, and this meant that twice a day they would need to be milked. I remember Christmas mornings, anxiously waiting for chores to be done so that we could open our presents, or on Halloween night so that we could go trick-or-treating (we were often the last kids walking from door to door).

My parents taught my siblings and I the importance of “getting our chores done”, and we simply knew that everything else came second to this. But I have to credit my parents for never making chores feel like a “chore.”  Continue reading →