Be the Background

I’ll admit, when I started on this holiday puzzle, I contemplated just doing the ‘key features’ and skipping the extremely nondescript background. This is the result.

Soon after, I decided I was up for the challenge and ventured into the seemingly boring background. At first glance, this aspect of the puzzle seemed unimportant and not very interesting. There were slight variations in the blue tones but that was about it. Even the stars looked alike. Why was this part of the puzzle the least interesting? It wasn’t just that it was harder. It was because it was more satisfying to place finishing pieces for a more distinct feature such as wreaths on the double door entrance or a boughs on a glistening tree. On the surface, it feels more satisfying to directly help complete an interesting or “more important” feature.

Isn’t this how our lives can be viewed – by ourselves and others? Social media and our over-exposed world is full of people who tend to show their shiny side. Their glistening tree side, not the indistinguishable background of life. We are encouraged to stand up, use our voice, take the center stage and shine. Great words of encouragement indeed!

But when I completed the background, I saw how much more beautiful the snow globe became. I noticed more features and the interplay of them as part of the scene. It was an essential part of the whole picture. Isn’t this how life is? How it should be? For each of us to recognize our value when we are the background and how we are part of the full and beautiful picture? How that also allows others to have their moments to shine? Communities and organizations and families work most successfully and beautifully when this combination of glistening and background coexist.

As we enter the holiday season and all that vies for our attention, remember how valuable and essential it is for us, and others, to sometimes be the background.