The smallest thing that keeps everything together.

You know you have it. That small little thing.

I have it. My husband has it. Heck, even Audrey (my 1 year 9 month kid) does.

For my husband it is this big plastic tumbler. Nothing special about it. It wasn’t even his to begin with. It was actually his brother’s protein shaker. Honestly it looks quite gross. He makes his drinks in it and he drinks from that tumbler all the time. He justifies it by saying that if other people ask for his drink, then there’s still a lot more for him. Most of the time, that would be me.

How attached is he to this object? Well let’s just say that if someone else were to use it, no matter who you are, it can result in an unpleasant situation. People may wonder, “Dude, it’s just a gelas la, there are lots of other gelas what”.

No, it is not. It is THE small thing that keeps EVERYTHING together.

Everyday, all of us deal with a lot of things. We face many challenges, trials and tribulations from the moment we wake up until the end of the day. Sometimes it stays on repeat. Through all of this, it takes up our energy, mental capacity and especially our heart to WILL ourselves through it. We use everything we have to not give in to our baser inclinations. In order for us to not lose it, so to speak.

Turning over that table. Punching that person’s face. Screaming at the top of your lungs. Hitting real hard. Saying the meanest and most hurtful thing you can imagine. Just giving that one all sarcastic retort. Jumping. Leaving. Killing.

When the world feels like it is falling on top of you like a mountain, when your emotions come crashing down like a tidal wave… sometimes there are these little things that we count on to be exactly how it is. Unmoved. Unchanged. Untouched. Yours.

Like a tall glass of cold water after a long day. In its own way, it is saying “Don’t worry, you made it through all that crap today, you are alright, it is all going to be okay.”

And if you mess with that one little thing of ours, the feeling goes something like this, “I can put up with all of the stupid things that happen and all I ask for is that ONE little thing. Just one thing. Don’t touch my _______ “ (insert object).

My sister once asked me, what is my deal with rooms? My room, whichever one it may be at the time. She says ever since she can remember, I always seem to have some sort of issue with my room. I can sulk, merajuk, make a scene and even be bitter when it comes to my room.

That is my thing I guess. Pet peeves maybe you can call it. My room is my personal space, my sanctuary, the place that I am me. I can just be myself and damn whatever anyone else thinks. I can be territorial with my belongings. Maybe because I wasn’t able to really OWN things. We were brought up to share and give away our stuffs and that nothing really belongs to you.

It is different for each of us. We all have our own ‘gelas’ that helps keep us sane, grounded, human. It may seem small to others, trivial even. But it matters to you, that is all. It isn’t necessarily love. It can be a feeling of comfort that stems from familiarity. Safety from the feeling of stability. Or at least the illusion of it. Even for just a little while.

It’s the small thing, that keeps everything together.

The true feeling that we are looking for however, whether it be security, comfort, stability, love, peace… cannot be found in created objects. It can sooth our vulnerability, moment of weakness, temporarily. But for a deeper sense of it, we can only find it with The Creator of all the creations.

It is the ONLY one, that is keeping everything together.

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