As I was sitting with my laptop this morning, attempting to wrangle all the minutiae floating through my brain, I found myself resorting to list-making. For some unknown reason, list-making is highly comforting to me, perhaps because it forces me to compile, sort, and categorize my seemingly random thoughts into cogent patterns that might actually help me remember and accomplish necessary tasks. I rely heavily on lists, although perhaps I keep them in a few too many places - like in my Franklin Planner (yes, I still use paper), on my smart phone (but having both reminder and note spots in which to make lists is not necessarily a good thing), and on random sheets of mini-legal pad paper which then get tucked in to the front flap of my Franklin Planner.
After I compiled my lists and attempted to empty my brain, I thought of the phrase, "The devil is in the details." and I became curious about the origin of the phrase and what it really means. Of course, I resorted to Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge, true and accurate. According to Wikipedia, the phrase may have originated with a German man in the late 1800's AND the phrase may have originally been worded, "GOD is in the detail".
Now, this new wrinkle was very interesting. There is a big difference between God being in the detail and the devil being in the details. I can tell you, from personal experience, that when it comes to details, the devil is surely lurking there because if you miss or misplace one detail, things can definitely come back to bite you in the posterior........usually big time. It is more my experience that if you get the details right, the devil stays out and you can feel the presence of God.
Details do count. Others may make fun of you, chide you for being "anal" (a descriptor for being highly organized that I absolutely hate and despise), and needle you endlessly, but, in the end (pun intended), these are the same people who will run in the opposite direction when something goes amiss. Needlers never have your back, but they will stand behind you and criticize.
I'd rather have one compadre who appreciates detail and will stand with me than one hundred needlers who declare, "I've got your back!"
Details, details. So far, I've got them under control. I'm hoping the devil stays out of my way.
Ancora imparo
