When we were newly-weds, my husband and I engaged in a rite-of-passage that was, even then, falling out of practice. We acquired a set of sterling silverware. This was not the kind of set you register for and buy piece by piece. This was a set we bumped into at an event that was somewhere between antique dealer and flea market. It was a simple, pre-assembled, elegant set but incomplete. Its service for twelve was missing almost all its serving pieces and a random place piece here or there. But it still had most of its dinner knives and lunch knives, soup spoons, teaspoons, bouillon spoons (or were they sherbet spoons), dinner forks, lunch forks, dessert forks, one fruit spoon, and one 2-tine butter pick.

our silverware

And then we did what most people do with their silverware - we wrapped it in special cloth and put it away for special occasions.

But as any silver maven will tell you, that's the worst thing you can do.  Dormancy allows the silver to absorb moisture and harmful "air" that hasten its tarnishing. The best way to keep silver shiny, presentable and bright is to use it, often. (And then wash and dry it well.)

Still and all, we put it away and opted to use our "everyday" flatware for our daily needs. Somehow, over the years, our everyday teaspoons have been disappearing. From a set of twelve we now have seven, which  means more often than not when we go to reach for a spoon, there are no clean ones left. I have been moved, therefore, to raid the "good silver" set to supplement our daily set.

When I first took out those singular spoons and an occasional fork, they were looking a bit unhappy and dull. But the more we used them, the more beautiful they became. Use burnished their shine.

Which taught me what in fact we somehow already know to be true: we must regularly use the best of our gifts, our moods, our manners, our civility, our dreams in our daily affairs if we want our lives, over time, to reach their fullest lustre.

As with silver so with our spirit. Routine use allows us to reveal its greatest lustre. We cannot save our polished selves only for special occasions, or favored people or dress-up times. If we do, we become stale, our manners become creaky, our kindness and generosity stiffen.

And after a while of regularly intentionally, consciously reaching for the better elements of our souls, those acts of goodness will become habit. Not a bad way to live our lives.