A month or so ago, I caught up with a friend for a 3-month delayed birthday brunch. Naturally, the conversation flowed to the topic of her current boyfriend and his awesome cellist ways. One story she told me that really got me thinking was how her boyfriend would repeatedly practice the same line the same way for several hours. Of course, repetition is a critical piece of artistry, but my friend found it odd because the notes and rhythm were correct, yet her boyfriend was visibly frustrated. She eventually asked him why, especially since he was hitting all the notes at all the right times. He then pointed out to her the more subtle nuances of cello performance (how does the direction of the bow change the sound, what note should that sound change coincide with, etc), and all of the details that go into "mastering" that particular piece. My friend is no musical slouch herself (relative to normal people, she's a piano prodigy; relative to piano prodigies, she claims mediocrity), but these differences were so slight that even she did not notice until he pointed them out.
This cello anecdote got me thinking about the relationship between detail and passion. Until then, I had never made the now-obvious connection: we are most detail-oriented about that which we are most passionate.
One of the stereotypical (yet accurate) depictions of passion is a nerd who loves technology and will grab anyone and unload, at one million words per second, slews of jargon understood only by himself. Another example is a young boy in love; all of his energies are spent on observing, to the best of his abilities, the likes and dislikes, the comings and goings of his crush. In other words, recognizing detail is an inseparable indicator of passion.
This epiphany got me thinking in two streams: God and myself.
The last couple of months, God's simultaneous vastness and meticulousness have put me in awe, and this was another example. If I really believe that the same God who created the heavens and the earth, the God for whom time is meaningless, the God who knows what lies beyond this galaxy, this universe also created me, an insignificant, little (in universal scope) boy, how can I not be amazed? But it doesn't end there. His attention to the details of my life did not end with my creation, but continue into even smaller moments, events, historical/chemical/physical/social/emotional/mental/spiritual experiences both recognized and not.
I am God's passion. He is trying to time, like my unmet cellist friend, the infinite variables of my life to ultimately produce a symphony that will bring glory to him and eternal life to me.
As for myself, my friend only introduced more questions. What details do I hold and for whom?
