Pay Attention

Pay attention to the things around you, the buildings you pass on the way to work or school, the people you run into every time you pull up to the drive-through window at Starbucks, the lyrics of that new hit on the radio. Is it just another dilapidated dump, or is it something more? What great story would it tell you if it could speak? Does that building have a story of once being splendid and home to a popular business joint for all the well-to-do in town? What genuine men stopped by that barbershop before the owner passed on? Did the same handful of old men sit around and sip coffee, shooting the breeze and discussing politics or brainstorming how the coach should make the local high school basketball star pass more often so the boys can make it back to State? Does that beat up, run down shack house memories of a flowering young marriage just before he went off to the war and she was left with nothing but a ring and a folded up flag to soften her sorrow? What about the employee making your drink? He’s caught up in a rough patch with his first love; as he steams your latte, he is hoping that the discussion they have tonight will salvage a relationship he desperately longs to keep but currently is nose-diving with one engine flamed out and a stiff throttle stick. You went through the same thing, and came out on top, but what would you tell him if you had the chance? What if you asked the guy handing you a tall Pike Place Roast how life is going and actually stuck around to listen beyond just the expected “Fine, and you?” and insisted upon an honest answer. Would you know where is coming from, what he is dealing with, as he shares with you what he wishes he could say to his fiancé if she would just listen? The next song on the playlist will touch your mind in a way no words or melody has in years? The Great Love Story is all around us. We all can be a victim of tragedy and triumph just around the corner, so I try to see the magnitude of the little things in life. The little things are prone to being missed because of such miniscule size and relatively little importance, but it’s the small things that make the big differences. Life wants to share God’s love, though it may come in the form of just a small whisper, but it’s a whisper nonetheless and if you are intent on listening and not just hearing maybe one day. . .