All the Little Pieces

“Savor every moment! It goes by so fast!”

Anybody heard that lately? I actually appreciate that sentiment… but savor every moment? Hmm. I mean, I love this season of life a lot of the time. There are moments that stop me in my tracks, and I think, “This is important. This moment I will treasure.”

I’d like to say I treat every moment this way, loving my life and each moment it presents.

But gosh that kind of feels like a lot of pressure.

I do love being silly with my children. I do love laughing with my husband. I do love that we are building a life together, our little family of four.

But honestly, I don’t love dealing with my daughter’s whiny fit, struggling (and usually failing) to not throw my own fit about her fit. I don’t love those moments standing in the kitchen, trying to control my anger at Matt for misunderstanding me, or at myself for not being understandable.

And what about those “throwaway” pieces – that can’t really be thrown away. Taking out the trash. Again. Folding the laundry. Again. Sweeping up the crumbs under the kitchen table. Again. Straightening the damn pillows on the couch. Agaaaainnnn for the love of OMGwhydowehavesomanypillows.

As I walk through each of these moments on an awesome day, I remember to be grateful. And I find joy. On an average day, though, I live amid the very plain pieces. Nothing shiny. Nothing very special. Trying to find special things to be grateful for.

But what if it’s not all supposed to feel special? What if it doesn’t have to look or feel “special” to be valuable…

Anything valuable – any breathtaking castle or magnificent fortress – is built one stone, one brick, one little piece at a time. If you held any one of those stones it may not seem significant. And certainly, if you were laying the stones it would feel repetitive, monotonous, even pointless, save for a fancy-looking piece here and there.

But what if you knew you were building something significant. What difference would it make to know that each brick, each stone – all the little pieces – were coming together to build something magnificent, something immensely valuable.

I must fight this notion that I need to get past all the ho-hum little pieces to get on with building the good stuff. This is what building the good stuff looks like. This is the stuff.

Here’s to seeing the value in the parts that feel special – and the ones that don’t.

Here’s to the beauty in all the little pieces.