Excited about the Details

I get excited about the little things.  Maybe it’s silly, but it’s just part of being me.   For the most part, I don’t make a whole lot of excuses for being the person that I am, but today, I’d like to give you my “excuse” for why the details make happy.

There was a time in my life where I sought to be indifferent.  I thought it was easier to be numb to the pain, and to simply cope with life from day to day.  To be honest, I was tired.  Tired of being angry.  Tired of feeling hurt.  Tired of feeling insignificant within my spheres of influence.  I worked so hard to be numb to the pain that I started to slowly push aside all emotions, including happiness and joy.  I was eighteen and nearing my nineteenth birthday with some choices to make.  

Some of you may know this, some of you may not, but I took Hebrew in college and attended a synagogue for quite some time.  I learned a Hebrew proverb (you may have heard it before, it is also at the end of the movie Schindler’s List) that had a profound influence on me.  

“ whoever saves one life, it is as if he saved an entire universe.”

I also came to the realization that the world will continue to turn, with or without me, but, as President Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Sure, the world will continue without me, but the world is one world, made up of many individuals.  Without the one (you, me, him, her), you can’t have them, or the many.  Without the many, you won’t have the world.  Why was this important?  I was one among many.  A seemingly insignificant detail in the fabric of the world, and yet, I was still a part of something bigger than myself.  It was time to be excited.  Instead of simply coping with the conundrums of day to day life, it was time to LIVE life and to add to the DETAILS of the fabric!

Yesterday, I was at work pounding away at my keyboard (I am a data entry queen) and instead of music, I decided to listen to some talks given over the weekend from leaders of my church.  I was so inspired and uplifted by wise counsel and encouraged by their messages of hope and faith.  Something in particular sparked the remembrance of my eighteen going on nineteen year old self and I knew it was worth sharing.

In the great Composer’s symphony, you have your own particular part to play—your own notes to sing. Fail to perform them, and with certainty the symphony will go on. But if you rise up and join the chorus and allow the power of God to work through you, you will see “the windows of heaven” open, and He will “pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Rise up to your true potential as a son [and daughter] of God, and you can be a force for good in your family, your home, your community, your nation, and indeed in the world.

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

…

I spent years dismissing all that was good and all that was challenging that I missed out on so much.  Choosing to be numb.  It took a lot of work, but I learned to let myself feel again.  Feel the pain and the joy.  Now, I get excited when the lights are right on my way to work.  I get excited when the Biebs comes on my car radio and I can belt out the words (unashamedly) and do my car-jig. I get excited as I watch little kids "discover" the world around them, and see how excited they get in the details that you and I take for granted and don't even see anymore.  

This week's challenge:  Aim to see the world with spiritual eyes, not just your physical eyes.  How much more refined and beautiful the world will be when we ourselves discover and re-discover the little things?  A great musical performance is created when the musicians are all working independently to play their part with all the dynamics required of them.  As a result, the orchestra as a whole is rich and full of sound.  If you don't know where you fit into the great Symphony of Life, start with "Do-re-mi," and you can't go wrong.

 

Play your part.  Sing your notes.  Dance your dance.  Be excited about the little things. 

 Happy Stay Sexy Thursday!  Sexy starts, now.