Viola Lee
Cleaning the Floor
My son and I are cleaning the floor because he has spilled rice cereal again. O, God, breathe. My son asks, "What’s the difference between a job and work?" I tell him that one has three letters and the other has four. He replies, "No, really." I explain, "A job is something you do to earn a living wage in the world. But work—work is what we do to satisfy our needs and wants, our purpose, our meaning. And meaning is how we feel worthy of ourselves." My son then asks, "Am I a job or am I work?" I reply, "What we have to do together right now is clean this floor. Here is a bowl of vinegar and water; this is what we call working together. We’re good. You and I are good." O, God of wealth, O, God of work, remind me that our bodies are worthy; our brief and beautiful bodies are worthy. O, remind me that to live in this house, which feels like the world, I must love. This is my work; there is only this, there is nothing more.