Hesses Madhouse: Small and Simple Things

Monday, January 21, 2013

Small and Simple Things

Did you read my last post? More important than that, did you read the blog I linked to in my last post? Did you make it to the very end of that post? Did you see the last paragraph? It was THOSE words that helped me know that that was all written for me.

image: redstick.wordpress.com

Sometimes things just make you sit up and take notice. You don't know why at the time. They just kind of sit there percolating for awhile until you really start to get it. Things with a similar theme pop into your head as if they were pieces of a puzzle. As the puzzle starts to form, you realize that there really is a greater force running things in this world--a force that "gets" you. A force that not only knows your name, your shoe size, and your I.Q., but your capacity for learning and your own special way of understanding things.

image: gregdemcydias.com

That linked-to post was one of those puzzle pieces and those words: "small and simple" were that little smudge of red on the corner that matched perfectly with the last puzzle piece that also had a smudge of red on it. They fit together perfectly!

Just what picture this puzzle is supposed to become, I haven't fully figured out yet, but I know it's going to be something beautiful. Something worthy of gluing together, framing, and hanging on my wall, so I can look at it daily and live by its message.

For some reason, for the last couple weeks, the words, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass" have been echoing in my head, and believe me, there's a lot of space for words to resonate these days--at least it feels that way.

image: percussionclinic.com

I'm not sure where I was or even what I was doing when those words first landed with a thud in my echo chamber of a mind. Seriously! It's like someone strikes a triangle or bangs a gong or even, you know the sound, "You'll know it is time to turn the page, when Tinkerbell rings her little chimes like this...." That's how it is when something significant begins to fill that cavern in my head.

Regardless of when or how, they are there and pieces are gathering, and the more I think about it at this point, the more I can see that the timing was perfect!

Late last week, I was allowed the honor of sitting in on the interviews of the nominees for Oregon's 2013 Mother of the Year and Young Mother of the Year. Boy, oh boy! What an experience!

I sat there thinking how much I enjoyed sitting where I was this year as compared with last year. I tried hard to nod and keep a smile on my face just knowing how nervous I knew these women must have been.

But as these women spoke!...Wow! There are some TRULY amazing women out there, and I know the ten that I came in contact with that day were just a drop in a very large bucket.

image: comfybummy.com

Sitting in on something like that, it becomes very easy to compare your life to theirs. It makes you feel minuscule and unimportant. It makes you think that all you do all day is wipe--counters, tables, floors, noses, bums--you name it, I'm wipin' it.

What I see, though, is that these amazingly fabulous things women do aren't the big things. They all start as little things. They start as having a need and finding a way to fill it with a bunch of small and simple things. It's something as small as wiping a nose that grows into something huge and important like love, devotion, and trust.

Everything we do matters--like pieces of a puzzle.

image: fantasycostume.net

When one of these women spoke of the service she'd rendered in her community, I couldn't help but envision that she had some kind of magic wand. I couldn't help but picture her saying the magic words, she in her flowy, billowing blue sparkling dress, tiara sitting perfectly on her amazingly coifed head, and flicking that wand in just the right way for her community to become a better place. She had done something most of us would find daunting if not impossible, but she had done it. The community continues to benefit from her efforts.

I'm sure my jaw dropped not just once or twice but with every single woman who spoke. The bruise has yet to show up, but give it time. It's gonna be a doozy.

One of the things this woman said was something along the lines of "I do these things so that my community is a great place for my children to grow up." Wow!

image: elizabethfoss.com

She saw a need, and she filled it. I'm sure it wasn't really with a magic wand--that would be far too easy and would quickly go unappreciated. I'm sure it was with much pondering and prayer--small and simple things. It was by her listening for answers to those prayers--puzzle pieces. And it was by her fitting those pieces together to form a beautiful picture....for her children.

That's what we all need. That is our recipe for success. Some people just get it. Some, like me, get it and then lose it and then get it again....only to lose it again later, but trust me, I'll get it again...eventually.

So, if you have plans to climb Mount Everest or build your own home or even have happy children who grow into happy adults, it all starts with small and simple things. It's just a bunch of pieces that all fall together into a beautiful picture....just for you.