Sometimes it’s hard to justify spending time on a trivial blog post when so much is going on in the world around us. The Spouse and I have been staying up late to watch a couple of documentaries on the events of 9/11 this week. Sixteen years later, the scenes and stories from that day are still raw and heart-wrenching and a very real reminder of the co-existence of good and evil in the world. Meanwhile, in real time, people in Texas and Florida and Mexico are dealing with scenes and stories of their own in the aftermath of hurricanes and natural disaster. Five minutes into the nightly news, and it’s hard not to feel hopeless and helpless about the global state of affairs and our place in it all.
Ever so often I get reflective and melancholy and basically unable to write about everyday life because the everyday starts to feel insignificant. But, in seasons like this one where the news is heavy I like to re-read this quote that I have tucked away in our computer desk:
“I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along not only by the might shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.” {Helen Keller}
But, I re-read that Helen Keller quote and am reminded it’s not necessarily the size of the tasks we’re doing but more so the way we think about the tasks we’re called to do that makes a difference.
Yesterday I had to go to a lighting store to pick up a few lightbulbs. The girls were out of school for the day, so the whole crew was with me. The man that helped us find the right bulbs went out of his way to be kind and helpful, maintaining a cheerful disposition despite the fact that my purchase was tiny and my assistant shoppers were all over the place, flipping switches, and asking about various chandeliers we had no intention of buying. At the end of the day he wasn’t doing rescue work or making news-worthy decisions, but his enthusiasm for his thing – in this case, lighting – was palpable and his kind demeanor probably put customers in a better mood all day long. He was making a difference in his sphere of interaction and influence.
Our quick errand to the lighting store reminds me that doing the ordinary with the right spirit really is important. Doing the next right thing wherever we are matters. Our roles may feel small, but we have no less significant parts to play in a much bigger story than what we are able to see from hour to hour or day to day.
On that note… our week has not been particularly eventful or exciting, and for that I am thankful. Sometimes there is a strange comfort in the mundane everydayness of things. And, always, there is comfort and entertainment where kids and dogs are involved.
It’s a long story as to why, but a couple of weeks ago we had to re-establish a landline connection. So, we hooked up a retro corded phone in the guest bedroom. I’ve had this particular phone for about fifteen years, but it hasn’t been functional in a long time. When the girls discovered that you can pick it up, hear a dial tone, and call someone, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities to them. They’ve been calling my cell phone all the time ever since… while I’m in the same house. I’ll be downstairs and get a call from upstairs:
“Momma, where’s my black leotard?”
I’ll be walking the dog in the front yard and get a call:
“Hey, um, where are you? Well, can I have a snack?”
It’s ridiculous. And, I heard them say to each other a few nights ago, “What if we just call a random number?” They didn’t try it, but little do they know prank-calling has been a thing for awhile. In fact, it was a vital part of Friday night sleepover entertainment during my middle school years. How times have changed. Who would ever have guessed that a landline would be a source of mystery and amusement in the year 2017?
Also a source of mystery and amusement is the behavior of our dog. Now that we’re back into the swing of things with school I try to take her on at least a short walk a couple of times a day. She routinely sees something that grabs her attention and jumps up to perform her favorite trick: the two-legged walk. Last week we passed some utility workers at the bottom of our road who were particularly amused by this. One of them said, “Look! That’s pretty cool. It’s like it’s a human.”
And, it would be pretty cool if her human-like qualities extended beyond walking on two legs, but that’s pretty much it for the similarities. For sure, I don’t know many humans who get this excited about seeing a squirrel.
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