The Details

If you know me, you know I love the "little things" in life. I love to pay attention to details. In fact, I get paid to do just that. Work, accomplish, produce the details of our worship services at First Baptist Church Euless. And I enjoy it. Recently, I was copied in on an email where my Pastor was describing me to a new co-worker. He said, " Lainie Thomas is our producer, and she is an incredibly detailed servant who doesn’t miss much at all."

Wow, what a very nice compliment from my Pastor. I was honored that he would give me such a great review to help my first impression with this new team member. But, I have to be honest, it got me thinking... My job is to succeed at taking care of multiple details for quite a large number of people. They depend on me. And those details change every seven days, so there is much time and preparation spent on getting up to speed and comfortable with what each week's new set of details entails. So, this is how I'm described at work, but can I say the same about my personal life?

I started thinking about the details of my life. I started surface in my assessment of how "incredibly detailed" I am at the little things in my private life, when no one may be looking. For example, I don't often think about accessories when it comes to my attire. To some people, that is a must, but I often just don't take the time to think about what purse I should carry, or a nice scarf to accent, an outfit, the proper earrings with this neckline, etc. I know, this is small, but it is true about me. And my skincare...I have very dry skin and while I take good care of my face, I often neglect lotion for my parched hands, elbows and feet. I don't often sit down for a good pedicure unless a friend invites me to go hang out for one. Some of this is due to have a husband in seminary, but much is just my neglecting the small stuff.

And then there is my spiritual life. I recently read a quote that I had to "noodle" on for a long time. I came upon it in a small book called "The Audience of One" that our choir was reading together. The Holy Spirit just seemed to stop me in my tracks on this one, "Above all make sure that your public worship is mirroring of what you do in private." Yes, take time to read that again. It is a profound statement to me, especially since Worship is my profession. I think about it, talk about it, help plan it, practice it, participate in it, produce it, but all of that is my public worship. What about my private worship? The truth is, I often struggle with the small stuff...THE DETAILS! My honest critique of myself is that I don't stop, but neglect. In my own power, I convince myself that I can run, do and do and do on my own; but it is just not true. And this honest assessment is one of the reasons why my journey with the Lord for 2010 is captured in my word choice, "REFRESHED". When you let yourself be blind to the fact that you've unplugged from the true power source, you find yourself worn and weary. But as this new year is already moving along, I'm finding myself stopping to put lotion on more often, think about accessories, and daily tap into the Living Water that does not run dry. We've got a long way to go on this journey, but every step counts.