In the Details

Details. They seem to matter a great deal to a great many people. The details of how you meet someone, the details of a birth, the details of a death, the details of a new job or a new phase of life. The details matter. I have been noticing the details in my life much more lately. Maybe it’s because my son is leaving for college today, or maybe because my daughter is going into 8th grade, maybe it’s because my life is not how I planned it to be, or maybe it is because I just recently resigned from my teaching position to start a new job - leaving some of my closest friends.

The details of our day to day lives can often seem monotonous or even go unnoticed, and we often gloss over the details that aren't as uplifting or inspiring. We go through the motions and routines of life and take for granted the gifts or details that are in our lives every day. These details, these moments, these miniscule pieces of time matter.

When you are a child or even younger, sometimes the details of an incident are fudged over because they don't shine in your favor, like when your twin brother almost catches the apartment complex that you live in on fire because the two of you were playing with matches. To my mom and dad, the details were very relevant. To my brother, they mattered because he blamed me. To me the details seemed less than important because I didn't do it, but I watched my brother do it. (My poor parents!!) As a teenager the details matter about a specific friend or party, or who is going where for college. The details are less important when you don't do well in a class, like Astronomy. In my defense it was on a Monday night and I was a freshman. Bad combo. As an adult, the details matter when it comes to choosing a spouse, deciding when to have kids, finding a career that you love. However, sometimes as adults we lose sight of the details when it comes to a poor performance at work, or a failed relationship. We don't always like to see the details that we got wrong or the ones that didn't go our way.

What I have learned these past 19 years as a mother is that the details all matter, the good and the bad. The details matter because God is involved in every single thing that happens in our lives. The good things are blessings from Him. The sad things are lessons from Him. The horrible things, well I don't know that one, but I have learned that I don't have to know all of the reasons why.

The details of my story as a mother are pretty intense, some would even say sad. I would disagree vehemently. My daughter Mackenzie would be 19 years old. Had she not been born, I probably wouldn't have had my twins, Peyton and Hayley. Peyton moves into his college apartment this afternoon. That detail is not lost on me. The details of our adoption and having Trinity placed in our family is also not lost on me. The details matter; they are a part of our story. Continue to pray and ask God to watch over you and your loved ones. God is in this story. Lean on Him.

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