“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
Martin Luther

I used to think Martin Luther was quite silly and irresponsible to say so. Come on, a minister! Shouldn’t he be comforting, evangelizing or praying if he really knew this was the last day?

Then I thought he was stubborn. Really how arrogant can you be? As if he said, I do not care what you say will happen, I dare you to challenge my priorities!

Nowadays I regard Martin Luther as I do Sam in the Lord Of the Rings. As the real hero. Motivated by life, not by the forces that threatens it. When Frodo get’s all puffed up by the importance of his task, he is tempted to yield to the power of  the Ring. The big political issues and the possible powers clouds his mind. The ring entangles his thoughts so that in the end he is not able to perform the simple task that should complete the excruciating journey to the top of Mount Doom. The true hero is Sam. His life is what he wants it to be, his motivation is to keep it that way. He is not fighting Sauron, he is clearing away the forces that will ruin what he loves and keep him from his loved ones.

When life get’s entangled, the aim is always to get back to the life we want The other tools help us remember that, to sort out, to fight, to prioritize, to list. To make room for what is true and to cherish that.
I think Martin Luther tells me that if my task is to plant an apple tree, it is not a prosaic unimportant task, it is why I am here. I am also challenged. As I will never know when my world will end, if what I do is worth doing it should be worth doing every day, to the end.

So I keep de-cluttering, I keep sorting my socks, I keep trying to be organized. Never as it was life itself, always because I need to be able to find my spade when planting trees, because that could be why I am here.

In November I take part in the NaBloPoMo,  in the BlogHer network. I post every day on “The Untangling Tens” what women do when life gets tangled. These are the ten tools that worked for those I have asked, what are yours?

All pictures in this blog are taken by me, Solveig Mjolsnes.