Attitude of Gratitude

I don't generally write about faith because it's a polarizing topic for which there is very little hope of influencing others' beliefs. But, I'm making an exception because, lately, a number of people in my sphere are struggling with loss, so I'm going to give you a little glimpse inside my head to show one of the ways I remain resilient: gratitude for simple joys and an appreciation for the abundance of this world. For the atheists, you may want to stop reading, because I use the "G" word liberally. Or, if you continue to read on, feel free to substitute any references to "God" with "Nature." This is not meant to be a divinity debate, just a ramble about what goes on in this particular optimist's head before coffee.

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This morning, I was in the drive-thru at Panera, applying mascara and lipstick while I waited in a long line to claim my oatmeal and coffee.  A co-worker discreetly told me that I needed to wear mascara to work at a minimum, because women are taken a lot more seriously there when they “pretty up” a bit. Sexist, but that’s the current reality.  I had trouble getting the children motivated this morning, so details like makeup were left to the drive-thru line.

As I applied my Burt’s Bees lipstick, I considered how refreshing the mint in it felt on my lips. When I take simple delight in something, I try to remember to quietly thank God for the little joys of life.

It occurred to me that those of us who work in service/support are always looking for that little bit of customer delight, and how hard it is to find those clever things that the customer may not even think about, but that will heighten their overall impression of the product or service...like the towels folded into animal shapes to delight your children at a hotel...putting the data the customer requested into a ready-to-present PowerPoint slide...recognizing a team member’s contribution in front of their peers...knowing a "regular's" preferences in the drive-thru...drawing a smiley face on your child’s napkin in their packed lunch...

And then, there was God, creating mint, which is not at all necessary in the world, so that we could feel refreshed by its flavor, aroma, and tingly feel on our skin. And mint is only one of a zillion unnecessary but delightful things in the world that, if they never existed, we would still be perfectly content without, but, since they do, we have that extra delight. Outstanding customer focus, God!

Then, I thought about God using the divine equivalent of MS Project to plan creation. My head exploded once when a former colleague described a large product implementation with several thousand tasks. I’ve never implemented a project with more than a few hundred tasks; even then, it seems that keeping the project management plan up to date is unwieldy.  Can you imagine The Universe Design Project? Even if divided into sub projects, it would be beyond monumental. 

Mint was probably task 402 billion in Project Earthly Flora.

And God had one project leader and one team member, all rolled into one. And no budget. Talk about limited resources. No wonder evolution took so long. Time, Cost, Quality triangle.  With the cost so low and the quality so insanely high, that time vector had to be huge.

So, that’s what I thought about on the drive to work, my lips happily tingling with the result of Project Flora’s task 402 billion. From mint, joy...and insane project management skills. 

And, by the way, I am also very grateful for whatever task number in Project Earthly Fauna covered bacon.

This life is abundant with wonder, and that keeps me going. 

(Written on 5/16/2016 but I forgot to publish it!)