God is in the Details

This article that Michael Collins recently posted on Facebook got me thinking about the work that lies ahead for Catholics across the world. Specifically, this section stood out to me:

"We have depreciated work that is done with back and hands, because we don’t have to do that work; we’re educated, you see, and can do such necessary things as come up with Five Year Plans for the teaching of gender diversity. 

I have no quarrel with studying the humanities. It’s how I earn my living. But I know well that all that I’m privileged to do, I do upon the bent backs of thousands of men who sweated more than I ever will. I am reminded of it every time I take a walk; I see roads, and houses, and bridges, and stone walls, miles of stone walls that once were the boundaries of farms and pastures in my neighborhood, and I know that all those stones came from the acres and acres of fields cleared by man and horse, and all those walls were built up of stones either muscled into place by the men, or lifted to their place by winch and pulley."

The idea of hard work is something that I think gets lost sometimes in our modern idea of work. I'm not solely talking about the back-breaking work Mr. Esolen refers to, but also the menial, tedious tasks that often accompany work. There is a tendency today to look only at the big picture, and to lose sight of all the little things that must be done before the ultimate end of our work can be reached. A solid foundation must be laid before the roof of a cathedral can rise towards heaven.

Of course, attention to detail is at the center of St. Therese of Lisieux's "Little Way." We find God in the details of our work. We are called to a faithfulness in small actions that the majority of people (myself included) just don't comprehend. Each action, each choice is a chance to love God. How often do we remember this? How often do I purposely make a choice because I know it is pleasing to Jesus? In my own life, I know that the answers to these questions are quite difficult to hear. Sure, I go to daily mass and pray with Liz each day, but there are so many more opportunities to love God than just these!

The true value of a menial task is the fact that it is an opportunity for love of God. This is first and foremost why it is important that we perform the menial tasks. However, there is a practical value to the details as well. The larger goals, such as the conversion of the world, cannot be accomplished without first understanding the details that go into such a large goal. However, since the details are no fun, I find that a number of people are eager to skip them in order to just get on to the larger goals. They rush through the gritty details of work in order to try to achieve the larger goals. A system set up like this is doomed for failure, though! Eventually, details do catch up. If the details of work are consistently ignored, at some point they become major problems with the capacity for derailing the whole project.

The small details of work, whether it be paperwork to set up a new project or the joys of taxation laws, must be appreciated in all endeavors so as to provide a solid foundation for the work. Most importantly, though, we must take the words of Jesus into consideration, "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much." Lk 16: 10