details.

Details create the big picture.~ Sanford I. Weill

Dad had just mowed and edged the lawn. After watching for awhile, Max ran inside and grabbed his scissors. (And I grabbed my camera.) Max wanted to help. He was going to help edge the lawn with those little kid scissors. Of course it would take him forever, clipping a few pieces at a time, but he didn't care. He was focused on those two or three blades of grass he could clip at once. He was focused on the details. It was easy enough for daddy to cut large rows of lawn with a passing of the mower. A lot of grass clipped, quickly. While daddy was focused on the big picture, Max was concerned with the details. He didn't think anything of his small scissors versus the large amount of grass to clip. He didn't hesitate. (Ok, well his clipping didn't last very long.)

That picture has me thinking of the details. It's so easy to let the day pass working on the big picture - cleaning the house, preparing meals, caring for pets, paying bills, returning emails and phone calls. The big stuff that needs to be done, the stuff that keeps us going. But what about the details of the day? Holding hands, the extra story read at bedtime, the phone call to parents to really talk and listen, letting kids help with dinner even though it creates a big mess. Those are the details that create the stories in our lives. The story would be pretty boring if we left out the details, right? Woke-up, ate, went to school/work, had lunch, played/worked some more, ate dinner, went to bed.



Life is in the details - those details are the big picture.
You create the details in your big picture.
What will your details be?

As a journalist, the details always tell the story. ~ James McBride