"The devil is in the details"
"God is in the details."
Which is it?
I think about this sort of stuff a lot – especially lately in reading the Nativity story and glancing through the keyhole to a new year.
God is in the details. If you look at how God set the stage for the birth of his son, the Messiah, you see His details of timing, staging, prophecy intersecting with a Roman census, angels, and a motley cast and crew who formed the welcome-to-earth wagon.
A baby in a Bethlehem manger Bethlehem – far from Mary and Joseph's home town of Nazareth – met by ruddy shepherds, foreign sages, moo cows, an angel or thousands, and more – became the Savior for the "rest of us."
Eight days after he landed in the hay, his mum and stepdad took him to the Temple in line with their Jewish tradition. There, they met Simeon, an old prophet who God had promised that he would live to see the Messiah.
Luke 2 says, "That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there." As Simeon scooped up the baby and chatted up the tired family, in shuffled Anna, a widow who long lived in the Temple waiting for the promised Rescuer of Israel. She immediately began praising God and telling people that the Savior had come…this poor kid wrapped in rags and smelling vaguely of sheep dip. Must have been a hard sell to some. Especially as so many were hoping for a Messiah of power, might, and large can of whup*** who would vindicate and emancipate them.
The details. Verified by at least two witnesses, the baby Messiah was announced in the Temple to a world eagerly awaiting redemption…hope…this musty wool-scented infant. This infant who the angels ushered in with song and a welcoming party of Kings and shepherds. This baby, surrounded by misfits. Misfits. I'm so glad there is room at the manger for misfits. That is a detail to live by.
The devil is in the details. I'm sitting here at the foot of Madi's bed writing the second edition of this blog (the first having vanished into the ether with an unfortunate key stroke) and experiencing how the devil mangles life and peace through oft-overlooked or distracting details. I've got one more morning in her home before we push off on the winding way towards Georgia…and I'm writing a blog because of a detail. Typically, I post blogs Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday and this week I'm behind.
I've fired up the computer, connected into the wifi, checked my phone for news and facebook updates, and plugged into the interwebs…rather than to her. Kenan will drive in again today for a few hours and I hope that the ever-present details of popular culture will be put to rest by then. No phone. No facebook. No BBC news. Just Kenan and Madi and whatever mischief we can find.
This Christmastide has also reminded me of how too much attention to detail can rob us of the best of this life. Believe it or not, I've lived much of my life as a perfectionist – confusing the setting with the point and leaving the people lonely in a well-appointed place. Ugh. Triple ugh. This year was an open handed rendezvous with Madi and Kenan in a shared home far from the nest I've crafted in Georgia. The details are out of my hands and we are left with a celebration of life and family and Jesus couched in BBC shows on Netflix, K-Stateopoly games, and unexpected meetups with old friends.
One more devil-in-the-details observation before I flip off the computer: I get distracted by shiny things, fuzzy grrranimals, Reeses, music, thoughts…<stretch>…I'm hungry.) Focus and attention are tough outside of a routine, but I long to make room for the surprises of the divine in friends, family, adventures, and shenanigans. To walk this tightrope of over-focus and "look-a-chicken!" distraction is grim at times and reminds me of how much I need that musty-smelling-baby-who-became-a-man Savior. Which may not be such a bad thing at all…the details of a curious life driving one to the Manger for Misfits. Hmmmm. I have to think about that some more and invite God to sort out even that piece of rumination/illumination.
A conclusion or insight would fit nicely here, but I have none except for the obvious: details can be your friend or your master. They'll seduce you into control or oblivion or help ensure that the car gets packed with all that you'll need for a rainy, snowy, sunny trip into the prairie. And…
the manger was made for Misfits, of which there are legion. Room for me and room for more! Always.
