The Details!

I believe our stories do carry significance, whether the details are great or small. Today I’m referring to the simplest of stories and occurrences that come about through our daily walk that are bound to point us in the right direction if we only look at them in the right light. We all have days that start out one way and turn out entirely different. That is what I experienced yesterday.

I had a precautionary test done at the hospital yesterday in the late morning. I went into it thinking it wasn’t going to be a big deal. When the tech mentioned putting in the IV, I was looking for the door. You see, I like having all the details and I hadn’t been given all of them. I also don’t like having to hold my breath while going through a circular machine. So, there I was in this room, alone, with an IV in my arm that didn’t come easy and that was painful and a voice over the intercom telling me that my body was about to get really hot. Grand! I can laugh about it now. The test didn’t take long. I made it through. I went in feeling great and left feeling all sorts of emotions. I was drained, literally. But this was just the start to my day.

After I got home and wallowed a while about the turn of events, I got up and went grocery shopping. I didn’t go to my usual store, I went to one in Toledo. It’s a fine area, but one I’ve experienced a sense of insecurity in before, and enough to warrant a watchful eye on my surroundings.  I went in and came out with a cart full of groceries. I parked farther away than the limits of the store I guess and once the cart reached a certain point, the wheels locked up. Argh! I quickly grabbed half of my groceries and ran them to my car. With the cart still sitting a good way away, I saw two girls standing over it. I judged the situation inappropriately and was quickly put in check as they walked the rest of my groceries over to help me out. They must have seen me struggling and just jumped in to help. How awesome! But, I saw how quick I was to judge the situation and these girls. I perceived it based on what I had experienced in the past instead of assuming the best and from an individual perspective.

I have to be better at assuming the best, in people and in my situations. I believe we’ve really gotten away from treating one another with kindness and respect, while demanding it for ourselves. I have to be more open to seeing the good, receiving it, believing in it and being it. It’s as if we look at people as enemies to be feared and not as people to be loved. I think we’re all capable of love, were just not being our best at it or at noticing it. We’re focused more on looking down on others, down to our phones or anything else that is distracting us from what’s right before us and yes, down on our circumstances.

It’s so much easier to recall and focus on the negative, the unexpected, the sometimes painful than to be a noticer of all the good, the just and the right in front of us. How insignificant in the large scheme of things and unbeneficial was it for me to assume my test would go one way and be upset that it didn’t go exactly as I thought? I could have asked for the details. And quite honestly, I realize how much the details really mean to me. If I want them, I need to ask for them and not assume.

I think we can mess up our relationships with the very same way of thinking. We don’t get all the details about something, things don’t agree in our favor or we feel left out and suddenly it’s the other person’s fault and we are left the victim. Guilty! An alternative, for me at least, is to lower my expectations a bit and begin seeing and believing the best in others and in my situations even when things aren’t going the best. What’s important to understand is that we all think and respond differently. We come from different backgrounds. We’re not wired the same nor do we interpret alike. By lowering our expectations and accepting others right where they are, we’re not making our relationships all about us. Not that everyone will be for us and us for them. Some people have to be loved from afar.

As for these two beautiful and kind women that were there to help at just the right moment, I’m thankful they were to show me where my focus ought to be and point me back in the direction of assuming the best. I wish I had asked their names. God knows them, by name.