A Musing Table: Finding Our "Calm Duty"

Someone far from harbour you may guide across the bar,
Brighten the corner where you are.--From a 1913 hymn

Isn't it better to be motivated by calm duty...(to) be that sun?--Lady Lydia (from here)

I've always been drawn to the homemaker as the "sunbeam in the home" (here). And i was struck today by the phrase "calm duty" there. That it is when we do our calm duty that we can be the sunbeam in the home. Those words, they well...calm me.

Becuase really, we can't do our CALM duty unless we are doing what we are meant to be doing, can we? And that is unique to each of us really, even to those who outwardly seem to be doing the same thing, like being a keeper at home. The truth is, there are many ways to be domestic.

Imagining Martha and Mary for instance, both took care of their home i'm sure, both were domestic...but i imagine they each did so uniquely. Maybe Martha focused more on stocking up well, making many things, perfecting her routines to get the most done she could, and being very efficient in her homemaking (think Proverbs 31)...maybe these were the sorts of things that inspired her there, that productivity aspect, that being able to "see" the fruit there. But maybe Mary focused more on taking her time in her household duties, on keeping a handle on the feeling there, keeping her heart and her homemaking...and thus her home...calm and orderly and peaceful as a priority (think Proverbs 8). Maybe that was what inspired her, that calm order and peace, and being able to "feel" the fruit there.

I know its not that clear cut, that we will overlap with these things. But the thing is, we do have different temperments, and to do our "calm duty" we need to embrace our temperment rather than fight it i think. A Mary trying to keep at home like a Martha will just be miserable, and vice versa. And we cant become the "sunbeam in the home" that way.

Misery by the way, i think this is different than pain. Some of us live with chronic pain and limits (here) from some physical conditions. Others live with great emotional pain (here) through the loss of a loved one or other painful things. One can have pain, and still be a sunbeam in the home. I love this qoute from Mabel Todd's "Beautiful Girlhood" (from here):

"Live in the sunshine. Look on the bright side, for there is always a bright side. No matter how a girl is situated in life, she can find something to be thankful for...Is she strong and well? She then has a heritage that can be used to good advantage in this busy world, but if she is weak and frail her life can brighten the home. Often the sick one is the most cheery of the family, in spite of her pain. Everyone can be a sunshine bearer."

Pain softens your heart really, and ironically can be a real opening for becoming a "sunbeam in the home". Ever notice how many "angel in the home" (here) type women live with great pain? Such as the physical pain of Beth in Little Women or the emotional pain of Sarah Crewe in A Little Princess ? Truly, pain can be a door to softening our hearts and becoming a "sunbeam". But not so with misery. Misery instead is from fighting your nature i think, pushing yourself to live in way you were not designed for.

I just long more and more to unravel what my own "calm duty" may be, as this unfolds in life day by day. I long deep down to be that sunbeam, to "brighten that corner where you are", to somehow "guide across the harbor" with a quiet light in the window. And more and more i am realizing that would be enough, just to find each day what that quiet light could be.

I remember an old Home Living post, about a woman who used to simply sew in her window, how just her being there at home quietly doing this was such an inspiration. How truly, we don't all need to be "out there" and "spreading the Word" and all that to be a light. There is more than one way to serve. There is more than one way to be a "sunbeam"....

PS: Just can't help but share here SnowWhite's "sunbeam in the home" song : )

WITH A SMILE AND A SONG

With a smile and a song
Life is just a bright sunny day
Your cares fade away
And your heart is young

With a smile and a song
All the world seems to waken anew
Rejoicing with you
As the song is sung

There's no use in grumbling
When the raindrops come tumbling
Remember, you're the one
Who can fill the world with sunshine

When you smile and you sing
Everything is in tune and it's spring

And life flows along
With a smile and a song

The video for this song btw is here; and some
other Snow White favorites are here and here.

Also love this classic:

KEEP ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF LIFE

There's a dark & a troubled side of life
There's a bright, there's a sunny side, too
Tho' we meet with the darkness and strife
The sunny side we also may view

[cho:] Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us ev'ry day,
It will brighten all the way
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life

The storm and its fury broke today,
Crushing hopes that we cherish so dear;
Clouds and storms will, in time, pass away
The sun again will shine bright and clear.

[cho:] Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us ev'ry day,
It will brighten all the way
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life

Let us greet with the song of hope each day
Tho' the moment be cloudy or fair
Let us trust in our Saviour away
Who keepeth everyone in His care

[cho:] Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us ev'ry day,
It will brighten all the way
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life

Final Chorus

[cho:] Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us ev'ry day,
It will brighten all the way
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life

If we'll keep on the sunny side of life

(Image is from D Eusebio Planas in 'Historia de Una Mujer', 1878, from

here)