Observing Trifles by Emily Owen

 

A special welcome to readers who only clicked on this blog because they are very into desserts. Custard, in particular. And cream. And sponge cake….

Sorry to disappoint, but this blog is not about that kind of trifle (insert pun about getting one’s just desserts).

Arthur Conan Doyle, the author who created the character Sherlock Holmes, said:

‘You know my method. It is founded on the observation of trifles.’

Trifles. The little things.

Much of writing could be said to be founded on observation, of so-called trifles and otherwise.

Much of my own writing – which is often devotional in style – draws on observation, but not of trifles (hence ‘so-called’ above).

Colossians 3:1a,2b:

…set your hearts on things above, where Christ is…..Set your minds on things above...

Set your minds on things above, set your hearts on things above; because that’s where Christ is.

Look for Jesus.

Jesus is here.

Right now.

We can see Him if we look and, as we do, we might find that the trifles (no, still not those trifles) in our lives are actually so-called trifles. Not trifling at all.

On Easter Saturday, I was playing hide-and-seek with my niece and nephew. A trifling thing to do, perhaps. For reasons still unknown to me, my nephew was the only ‘seeker’, and my niece and I hid together. Literally together, which was quite tricky, especially when I was required to squeeze into places a six-year-old can just about fit into.

As the game went on, and with the choice of places where an adult and a child could hide together being limited, we started reusing hiding places.

Once, we were squished behind the dining room door (again), and my nephew found us with ease.

“You found us quickly!” I said.

His response?

“That’s because I know your hiding places.”

Enter a so-called trifle.

I know your hiding places.

Do we hide? In life? Perhaps when things are not going well, or we’re worried about aspects of our writing, or about things we are being required to do, or when things are going well, or when we put things off.

Perhaps we hide.

Or perhaps those things make us feel hidden. Not really seen.

Either way, we are in a hiding place.

And it’s a place God knows.

Psalm 139: 1-3:

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Think of a trifle (no, still not that kind) from your day. Might it actually be a so-called trifle? Perhaps you could write about it, or comment below.

Set your heart and mind on things above....