To Be Small
We want to be big.
We want to be noticed.
Yet sometimes I wish I was his size.
Because he has access to worlds that I have outgrown.
Lands in mazes of wheat that I can no longer see because I am above.
Yet he is lost in them.
Too many parallels to draw.
Oh to be small.
What do you miss about being small?
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
Wow…
Amazing…
And so true…
…I’ll keep you posted
Any news?
A concise nutshell of a profound truth. Smallness. Upside down in a world of puffed up bigness.
Love the reminder. Thanks!
My questions were simpler and filled with a sense of awe rather than doubt.
Moving post btw.
I guess when i was small i believed i could do anything when i grew up. When i was young my problems where small and my dreams big, As i have grown older my list has grown smaller and maybe i could learn a lot from my smaller self.
I never was really small & when it would have been possible I didn’t want anyone near me, but now I long to be small enough to sit in Daddy Gods lap & be inveloped in safety, even for just a little while. thanks carlos, this is a awsome post.
what do I miss?
That so many things were new and fascinating. And, the profound and completely unshakable truth that I was indestructible.
I miss:
Sitting at the table with a friend while mom brings us a PB&J sandwich and a glass of Kool Aid.
Standing at the bus stop on a cold morning, and stomping on the ice in the puddles.
Recess.
Whatever we did that put the grass stains on our knees.
Hanging out with my sisters.
Building bike ramps and not ever thinking about the possibilty of getting hurt.
Big League Chew and Jerky Stuff.
The taste of the leather strings on my baseball glove.
Knowing nothing about politics, economics, crime, etc.
“the taste of leather strings on my baseball glove” just made took me back..and i thought i was the only crazy kid that stood in the outfield and chewed on his glove..
I remember sucking on the leather strings of the baseball glove too! (hoping the ball was never hit in my direction)
Well, I played shortstop and pitcher and was very attentive, but I lived in my glove. At home on the couch watching tv, in the car, at the games in the dugout. Don’t know how the habit started, but I know I couldn’t get enough!
i’m five feet and one and 3/4 inch tall.
im always gonna be small! o_O
Oh to be small..
when i was small..i dreamed big..i believed..
now i am big..and i dream small..and sometimes question whether or not even the small dreams can come true..
Father Thomas Hopko mentioned “being small” in his 55 Maxims..and i have chased this small talk too..http://www.treybailey.net/2009/11/fr-thomas-hopkos-55-maxims/
thanks for this reminder, Carlos..
Dang, that hit home.
What do I miss?
Endless possibilities
No real concept of or need for money
Making dens in the woods
Simple faith
About being physically small:- I miss that there are fewer places to climb, swing on, or squeeze into.
Metaphorically small:- I grew up in rural, poor Jamaica (that became less so as I grew up). There were lots of things that weren’t available even if you had the money to buy them. I miss the creativity of making do. Like:-
-Listening to a recording to figure out parts because you couldn’t buy sheet music and the musicians didn’t read music anyway, they played by ear.
-Being creative with your cheap word processing program and maybe some scissors and a photocopier to make programs for an event.
-getting creative using your mother’s perfume boxes, scissors and tape to make the vehicles for your GI Joes, because nobody ever had the actual vehicles.
etc.
I miss not having responsibilities or bills to pay. Naptime and snack time was the greatest.
How simple life was! No worries, responsibilities, the days felt longer and playing outside was awesome. Especially in the summer!
And how when you’re little, you could make some of the most boring things fun. Like playing with rocks or drawing with chalk all over the driveway! These things could entertain for hours. : )
I found respecting, and certainly submitting to, authority easier back then.
I miss not one thing of being small.
I felt safe, always.
Cheaper clothes……..
When I was small, my dad was alive.
That hasn’t been true for almost five years.
And I believed that he loved me.
That ended when I was 9… and became true again when I was 20.
Unfortunately, the combination of the two is no longer possible.
To be physically held without fear…
I’m glad my childhood is behind me. Sure there were some good memories, but the gross, unhealthy stuff far outweighed it. I’m just glad God healed me of it, and I’m glad there’s still a bright, amazing future ahead of me.
I miss the freedom of trusting that my parents were taking care of my every need.
I miss being carefree and innocent, playing outside until my dad whistled for us to come home, Saturday morning cartoons, being out of school for the summer, and no or little responsibilities.
Amen…
Playing catch with my dad. Recess. School Lunch…it costs alot more now. Naps. Not having to pay the bills.
Faith. I miss the faith that I had when I was small. The kind where I didn’t worry about anything because I just knew that everything was going to be alright. Ahhh, but that faith has been gone for many many years…now I struggle to maintain my grown-up faith, wishing that someday I can be small again.
My dad’s lap.
I miss playing baseball…no one cared what language you spoke, what color skin you had, what church you went to (or didn’t go to)…all that mattered was that you could throw, catch and hit a baseball.
There were no cell phones ringing in the middle of the game, no fear of being kidnapped walking home from the field. I wish my kids could experience this…
Sometimes I wonder why I stopped climbing trees. Why I stopped running around not to be fit but for no reason at all. Why I stopped looking at the details of things that God has made. Sometimes I wish I was young again. But I don’t have to be young to do all those things..
Thank you for this.
I miss being able to be picked up and held by my parents! They felt so big and larger than life to me then. Nothing compares to being held by a loving father or mother!
Awe… The ease of surrounding ourselves with all things new. But then again, isn’t our familiarity with the world only an illusion. Too much of being big is believing that we know, and when we think we’ve reached the point of fully knowing then we are no longer capable of learning on that point. Kids have no such illusions.
I think we ,as adults, should strive to look with kids eyes again. Eyes that look at everything around us with an air of unfamiliarity. I think maybe we’re just out of practice from finding comfort in the familiar and routine.
Isn’t it interesting that kids have to learn fear, but with most of us as adults, we have to learn not to fear?
The truth is… we’re still small!
kirk…
my thoughts mirror your final line…
yep, in this BIG world, that my HUGE God created, and then sent his Son to save me…yep…I am so very small…
curling up in my Mom’s lap and being hugged and loved. Life is tough sometimes. It’s nice to know my kids still get this.
Awesome thoughts Los! I feel like I get so easily caught up in the mundane things of life and don’t give myself to get excited and just be happy crazy just because I feel like it. Does anyone else know what I mean? I just posted something along a similar thing on my blog – check it out:I Feel Like A Kid Again.
Bless you!
I totally miss being able to curl up and hide under my bed for a couple of hours! If I were small, that’s the first place I’d go!
I miss watching the old-school Batman shows super early with my dad before I went to school.
…and definitely the whole lack of bills thing.
Awesome, awesome perspective.
“Because he has access to worlds that I have outgrown.”
like innocence. purity. wonder. delight.
love this simple reminder. Thanks!
the lack of responsibility
Playing kick the can with friends, in the dark, on hot summer nights!
Hugs from my Daddy. He died when I was 19, and I remember thinking at the funeral that no one would ever hug me like that again. He was a big man, with a big hug – you knew he meant it when he hugged you in his arms. And no one has ever made me feel the same since. I love you and miss you Daddy.
The care free life of not having grown up responsibilities.
We watched Toy Story 3 yesterday and I miss just spending all day playing with my toys. My brother would set up his knights and castles and I would bring my Barbies to watch the “castle show”. We’d also play outside constantly. I miss summers off.