I'm growing smaller. Standing in church between two of my teenage sons, I now only reach their shoulders and must bend my head backwards to look them in the eyes. I am shrinking, losing height. I am a tower that is falling.
I am smaller in other ways, too. My mind is smaller. I look at the surface of people and things and fail to notice the depth that lies underneath. I listen to hurtful comments and I immediately become defensive instead of accepting the full scope of the words that hurt and acknowledging that those words might have been lashed out in response to their own hurt, the hurt that I might have unknowingly caused.
I look at others whose appearance or actions are different than mine, and I immediately judge them and write them off as someone I wouldn't want to know. That beam that is stuck in my eye blinds me to so much goodness and beauty in the world around me.
Stretch me, Lord. Tug on my heart and my mind and my soul so that I will become an expansive vessel of your love to others. Take this shrinking girl by the hand and help me to grow in Your Love. Amen.
