A Love Letter to Servants
Despite My very clear and present Atheism, I am incredibly excited by religiosity, particularly of the Christian variety. The imagery, the moral outrage, the judgment, damnation, mortification of the flesh, transmogrification, incest, abuse, torture, withholding, punishment. It's all terribly resplendent to Me, and thus I find Myself very attracted to the deviant, sinful, and immoral behaviors that provoke the wrath of an entire deity.
We often say in BDSM, that our practice is a "break" from the drudgery of everyday life. But I am positive that there are people who find extreme purpose and fulfillment exactly in that mundane toil. They act as an invocation to all of the messages of the Bible, about having a "joyful servant's heart" - a seemingly oxymoronic sentence, for those of us who dread ordinary, repetitive tasks. To be clear, I am the sort of person who sees no joy in domestic duties. I have not a servant's bone in My body, and I'd rather be the Goddess than push a mop and bucket. I am currently married to someone who is so blatantly uncomfortable about being served that they let Me order their food at restaurants. Such an inverse of Me.
That said, I'm a huge fan of Drudges. Domestic servants: those who delight in being a servant, a maid, a scullion. Those who make a conscious effort to gobble up and execute all of the information about cooking, cleaning, servitude. They read articles, watch videos, pine over manuals, books, and magazines in order to perfect their respective crafts. For the same reason Christianity extols a servant, I do as well, so without further ado, here are some Bible verses that begin to touch on the heart of a servant, from a value perspective:
1 Corinthians 15:58 - Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Matthew 23:12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
Philippians 2:7 - {Jesus} made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Then there are passages dedicated to keeping a servant humble, a rather delightful and subtle dominance put forth by God - and essential guide on not topping from the bottom:
Matthew 10:24 - A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
Romans 13:4 - For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
Then there is the love story of Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick. It was a Victorian-era romance, which did not include a consummation of their wedding, but a lifelong prized possession/passionate slave relationship. Not only did they fall in love and secretly elope, they kept their marriage mostly secret until their deaths. Hannah, at Arthur's behest, kept a diary of drudging for 18 years, and he says of her:
"Fifty years — aye, more than fifty — has she done her best to please ;
Happy in her humble calling, happy on her hand and knees :
For she loves the joys of scrubbing, blacking grates and cleaning stairs,
And she shows her love in that way, as the ladies do in theirs.
She was born for love and labour, and in her, the two are one :
Nothing checks her, nothing daunts her, till her daily work is done ;
And she does it, not for wages, not for merit, but to prove
That no labour is too low to be the language of her love."
Hannah Cullwick (left) and Arthur Munby (right)
From the onset of manhood, it seems, Arthur had a fetishistic obsession with "working" women -- not sex workers, mind you -- just women who worked domestic and otherwise labor jobs that made them dirty, tattered, and otherwise very muscular or masculine. He seemed to cherish this demographic above all else, and was actually quite disparaging about affluent women who eschewed any income generation.
He was also very adamant that they chose their station in life:
"And she does sit there of evenings, when her household toils are o'er.
When she's wash'd up all the dishes, when she's clean'd the kitchen floor ;
In her servant's dress she sits there, neat and tidy, fresh and clean.
And he would not change her presence for the splendours of a queen."'
In the book, The 5 Love Languages, there is a language of love called "Acts of Service." This is a "don't tell me, show me" expression of love. It is clear that Hannah Cullwick expressed her love with acts of service, and Arthur Munby appreciated that. I feel similarly: if you do things for Me, I appreciate it far greater than just saying things.
Acts of servitude are valuable, enriching, and even necessary. So what better way to experience someone's value than to observe their acts of service?
