Some Small Things

Being casual on the outside but a fairly exhaustive and trained soul inside, I occasionally must be reminded that few folk will even spot the thing I am camping on. So? So sweating the tiny stuff can sometimes be a drag. Greatness and the awareness of detail, in my viewpoint, are welded together. A great piece of music is like that—carefully prepared orchestration carrying out an impressive tune with the entire sound of balance. The choral group that performs is also committed to the fine line. Not too much room for “don’t sweat the little stuff” philosophy.

A great piece of writing is similarly a masterwork of detail. Words are selected, shaped, infrequently chiseled in order to dovetail into the exact meaning or outline the writer requires. Study the choice of colors, the feel, the shading. Look at the lines on that ton of white marble to which Michelangelo once put his hands. Those liquid lines in David’s form do not simply happen to flow. It’s no surprise that you’re shocked to find the stonework cold to the touch.

Something that real is meant to have warm blood in it. Why? As the Italian genius worked dull hours over the tiny stuff. Something inside his head could accept nothing less. A solid biblical foundation for such the focus on quality isn’t difficult to find. Consider the wonderful fashion in which the church was designed and built. With its “windows with inventive frames,” intricate beams, winding stairways, gold-covered cherubim, and “stone prepared at the quarry” so that “neither hammer nor axe nor iron tool [would be] heard in the house even though it was being built” ( one Kings 6:4-8, 28 ). The name of Our Lord God was exalted as folks witnessed such detailed beauty. What is true for grand music, great writing, precious art, and quality construction is also correct of the way some still practice medication or law, do their architectural drawings, teach their scholars, type their letters, evangelise their sermons, play their instruments, cook meals, fix automobiles, coach groups, sell insurance, run a business, a home, a college, an eaterie, or a ministry. It isn’t for the money or for the glory or for the celebrity it may bring. It’s simply a matter of deep-seated private pride and commitment. It all reduces down to fine, rare, quality artfulness. Decide now to do something special in the subsequent 24 hours—something nobody may ever notice except you and your Creator—in which you can demonstrate fine quality workmanship.

While you are deciding what to do, read with appreciation the 1st chapter of Genesis—and think about workmanship.