the world, it's a little one

This month, Real Simple came out with an entire issue dedicated to organization.  Thats 276 (beautifully) printed pages instructing us how to tidy up our lives.  Get rid of the clutter.  10 Steps To A More Efficient Life.  The kitchen I worked one summer had a saying, "Everything has a place, and everything in its place."  It seems the world is forever telling us that we should find a special drawer for everything, lest a pesky red sock turn all our towels a terrible pink.

I can't help but wonder if this translates to the world outside our kitchens and bathrooms.  Have we learned to compartmentalize our entire lives?  In the mornings we leave our homes to go to work or school...that's business time.  When we return we make dinner and talk about our day...that's family time.  On the weekends we might make special plans to go into the city with a group (fun time) and some of us spend Sunday mornings in a church (that's God time).  See what I mean?  Most of our lives could be graphed on a pie chart with no interaction from slice to slice.  Every once in a while we get really worried that maybe the slices aren't even the right size.  It's a problem.

My life doesn't look so neat and tidy.  The people I work with in both of my jobs are also my friends, and half of them are related to one another.  One guy who shares office space with us I've known since I was fourteen and lived with his family for a time.  If my life was a desk drawer, you'd always be looking for the scotch tape.  But its always interesting.  That's what happens when you let people out of their manila folders, when you mix the white laundry in with the dark  - you find that your life is surprisingly more colorful than you thought possible.

Today, my friend Angelina was telling me about going into what she thought was a random new coffeeshop to discuss putting up her paintings.  She quickly discovered that she had met the girl working behind the counter at a Poetry Night we had a few months ago, and that another guy there was the brother-in-law of my boss (and the son of my pastor, yes, confusing!) She laughed at the connection and said, in her beautiful way of speaking, "you know the world, it's a little one!"  It seems the smaller my world gets, the more strangers seem like neighbors and my friends seem like family.