big opus

Now that I spent several hours making my blog look decent, (hopefully you agree) I guess I should put it to use. First topic: the name “big opus”.

I went to lunch with my friend Don the other day, and for some reason we got to wondering about the number of people that the average person gets to know in a lifetime. We were trying to figure out how many people we currently know by name and face. I checked my computer’s address book and it has 650 contacts in it, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. There are all the people I grew up with, went to high school with, churchgoers, friends of the family, immediate and extended relatives, fellow college students and coworkers- the list goes on. I would say that the number of people the average person knows at an aquaintence level is several thousand. Some people of course know many more than that.

The more I thought about this, the more I realized how small I really am. As all-consuming as my life is for me, it is only a miniscule part of the world I live in. But that does not make me insignificant. Because my life is inseperably interconnected with the lives of those around me. The things I do in life, from the major decisions all the way down to everyday actions affect those around me, and vice-versa. No matter how much I like to think that my life is “mine” and that I have control over it, the reality is that we are in this together.

In latin, a magnum opus is a great literary, musical, or artistic work. The world we live in is a great work, in which we all have parts. Although I often do not know exactly how my part fits in, I know that there is a God who does. This blog is about my life, those around me, and God’s magnum opus, or “big opus”.