The expression, “The devil’s in the details,” has always rung pretty true to me. It occurred to me one day that if that was true, God, too, must be in the details! I thank the Holy Spirit and St. Therese’s Little Way for this illumination. Her spirituality lends itself to doing great acts of love in the everyday, little things of life — the details! If love is in the details, God must be too.
I’ve got so many details. We all do!
I ain’t gonna lie – I can get overwhelmed. Despite my desire to get it all done and to do it well, things can easily turn into an ugly mess. You probably know the mess I’m talking about! There’s no use crying over spilled milk, but on certain days, if the milk spills, everyone is going to cry anyway. In those moments when my weaknesses seemed to trump God’s strengths and my emotions trumped my acceptance of God’s will, I would loose my focus and peace.
If God is in the details, I figured peace should be there, too. As I was struggling, by God’s grace, I turned to the Queen of Peace for help. During this time, I was learning to live out my Consecration to the Blessed Mother. She was teaching me to see her as my mother and to seek her help to be a good mother.
I began to consult her on the details of my day. I’d say, “Ok, mama. What’s next?”
Even though I wasn’t great (like, at all) at listening to her, I began to recognize her influence, her promptings. When I did things her way, generally my days ran more smoothly and were more productive. Duties, prayer and rest started to flow together with purpose. There was peace when the milk spilled.
The more I tried to listen, the easier it was to hear.
I know I didn’t do everything she asked in the order she wanted it done. But, it didn’t matter. She shares a heart with a pretty Awesome Guy that likes to turn water into wine. I found that, like her Son, she wants to walk with us through each of our details each day.
Mary is our Blessed Mother, the Queen of Peace and so many other beautiful titles. But, I also like to think of her as Queen of the Details. No mother desires more ardently than she to be an intimate guide to her children through the details of this valley of spilled milk.
