Redefining Progress in a Simple Craft Shop

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I passed its red brick and became entranced in its simple design and old world architecture. It wasn’t a building that was designed to stand out. If the year had been a few before, it wouldn’t have stood out. The white porch invited visitors to come in. The chipped paint gave a feeling of comfort and home. It was like a well worn baseball glove. Someone once told me that the street was filled with these types of village shops and restaurants. I never knew those days. now, the street is filled with highrise office buildings, starbucks and starbuck posers. Yet, standing in front of these mighty human achievements, my eyes remain steadfast on the little craft shop that does not fit in. Why is it still here?

Alot of times, I feel like the tiny shop in a misplaced world. I’m shorter than most - all - of the guys I know and I am not mechanically gifted. This is fine. I am actually comforted in knowing I don’t have to run the race the way society dictates me. If the world acts in terms of progress and natural selection, then I am safe in a state of contentment and relational openness. I don’t want to live in a way where I have to define success in growing my own ego and material wealth. The food chain and getting to the top maybe Darwinian and the natural order, but I want to live in a different order: a misfit order.

What if we could redefine success in a misfit way. What would it look like? An individual whom has learned to live in harmony with others around her or maybe one who gives his every movement to those lying on the street whom natural selection would overlook. We wouldn’t look to a new cell phone or even a nano sized hard drive as progress. Instead, progress would only be considered when an individual, community or environment was lifted off the dirt and given a new chance to survive.

The little craft shop still survives today because of a personal involvement in the store. If someone had not become involved in its success, then it would’ve fallen away to another generic coffee shop. As misfits, we can truly change the natural order of things. In simple ways, we can lift the fallen and bruised. We can restore God’s natural garden. It just takes a step outside of the normal mode of living and become a misfit.

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