Thursday, July 5, 2012

Subtlety


“A spirit that won’t let me go”

There is subtlety to the way strings connect with a tennis ball and create a game. We take for granted the subtle movements and physics at work in each shot we make. How is it we are able to return a ball out of the air and deposit it in exactly the right spot with a subtle tap of the racquet? It’s quite extraordinary, even with all the advances in technology, how tennis players are able to divide, conquer and exchange this moving ball with a set of strings arranged in an oval frame. I think of the drop shot as the most subtle of tennis maneuvers. It’s a subtle move of the wrist that does the trick. It’s barely noticeable, really.

What are the subtle exchanges in your life? Which words are the subtle unspoken ones that stay on your ears the longest? What about when a friend subtlety says your name, followed by a friendly hello. I remember the final time I saw a dying friend. I leaned over her hospital bed. Her smile broke me down inside. She touched my wrist with such subtlety I will remember that gentleness the most. Where do you experience life’s subtleties? Mine are in the subtle touches of a friend, the soft kiss given by a lover,  the smile from a stranger, the unceasing ocean splashing softly in the distance, the forgiving Lord’s promise carried in my heart, the sureness and the peacefulness of a tennis court, the silent breaks of a song. I’m led to believe there is more to every part of our lives than meets the eye. In every breath, there is a subtle miracle somehow revealed. All of us have similar experiences, but each of us sees differently. The subtlest part of life I’ve come to know lies not in my sight but in my spirit. It is there I happen across the most recognizable of subtleties.

“The light of your eyes still shines”

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