Thankful for the Detail

I actually think I’ve blogged about this before, but if I have, forgive me.

Last week I read what can often be considered some of the “tedious” chapters of the Old Testament—the details of the tabernacle’s construction. Now I know there is so much to learn from these dense chapters when studying each detail in depth, but last week I found great comfort in this portion of Scripture simply because of the minutiae of detail.

Think about it. God cared about the exact dimensions, the exact construction, the exact materials that went into building His tabernacle. It wasn’t a whim. Or a gaudy showplace. Or something slapped together, ready to collapse at the first blast of wind. He accounted for every contingency, including the weather and the moving of it from one place to another. And so He gave Moses the plan in excruciating detail.

Fast-forward a few thousand years. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 6:19 that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Do you think God cares any less about the details of His living temples than He did of His moveable one in the desert? Or of the one He again detailed when Solomon was ready to build a more permanent structure? No. God is unchanging. If the details of His dwelling place were important to Him then, they are important to Him now.

So that’s where I rest, receiving great comfort from the reading of dimensions and construction materials. He knows the intricate design He has planned for my life. And He won’t let one detail of it fall by the wayside. After all, I am His temple.

It's In the Details

I’m a detail person. I didn’t always know this about myself. In fact, at a crucial job interview when I was twenty-one, my prospective boss said, “Are you a detail-oriented person?”

           

“No,” I replied, very matter-of-factly. Maybe almost with a bit of disdain. After all, everyone knows that “detail-oriented” means “boring” or “nerd.” And I was determined to be neither of those things.

The Lord graciously let this woman see past my words to my personality and I got the job. It did indeed involve myriad details, all of which I juggled with aplomb. Whether I liked it or not, I recognized that I am wired for detail.

But lately it seems like I’m drowning in a sea of details. I’m not talking about saying “no” to things. I’m just talking about the details of life that must be attended to by someone. Things like when a bill isn’t correct and you must call customer service to get it straightened out. Or when one doctor’s appointment leads to another. Or when you change your provider of ___________ (you fill in the blank) and the list of who needs to know this snowballs until you feel like Indiana Jones running from a giant boulder. Sometimes it’s just the weekly or monthly task of making a grocery list and figuring out what you are going to feed the family or taking care of the car registration, inspection, oil change, tire rotation.

I don’t want to spend every waking moment dealing with the details. I want to read or write or spend time with the people I enjoy. But I have a hard time doing those things when the details of life become all consuming.