The Rosary on My Windowsill

Mary in the Kitchen – CF124: Alton Brown, This Bisque’s For You

There’s a rosary on my kitchen windowsill. When I stumble into the kitchen, my eyes barely awake, and stand there looking out at the blackness of early morning as I wait for my coffee, I see it there.

That’s usually my cue to pick it up and start my prayers.

Sometimes, especially on the weekends when I allow myself the luxury of not waking up before the rest of the household, my rosary stands sentinel on the windowsill all day. Though I may get my rosary prayed through the day, it’s not with the same focus or with the weight of that rosary in my hands.

My kitchen has always been my primary place of prayer, and not just because I’m usually desperate for dinner to be something edible or for an idea to feed the crew. I tend to migrate toward my kitchen table, toward the place of coffee and comfort, toward the centrality it holds in my home.

My kitchen and my rosary have a lot in common, really. Just as my kitchen functions as the heart of my home, since it’s where all my work as a wife and mom seems to begin and end, so the rosary has become the heart of my faith. I don’t mean that it trumps the sacraments, but that it leads me back to them.

Find myself feeling lonely, like I’m missing part of my soul? There, in the rosary, I’ll find Mary leading me to her Son and to the only comfort I really need.

Having a bad day and thinking the world’s on my shoulders? There, with the rosary on my heart, is Mary with her arm around me, hugging me from the foot of the Cross.

Basking in the beauty of creation and the blessings of my life? Ah, what a day to pray the Glorious Mysteries and see Mary’s face light up as she hugs her Risen Son.

Just humdrumming along, fighting the temptation to feel bored or look for trouble? The rosary seems to be just waiting, a path Mary walks with me, reminding me of the plan God has that I can’t possibly know yet.

Throughout my time in my kitchen each day, I’ll catch a glimpse of my windowsill rosary. It looks like it’s been placed there almost accidentally, but I know why it’s there.

In those beads, I have a chain of love, an ongoing link from God, through his mom. I try to remember that when I don’t know what I’m looking for, when I find myself hungry for something more than food.

They always lead me, through Mary, to Jesus. Every single time.

***Image courtesy of Lawrence OP on Flickr.com.***