Feeling Small

♪♫♪ When you’re weary, feeling small, when tears are in your eyes ♪♫♪

Everyone feels small sometimes. We move in and out of the feeling.  We often say we feel small when we feel insignificant, unknown or unseen. It often comes when we experience significant change.

We can let it overwhelm us, defeat us, or we can change our thinking and let it remind us of the bigger picture.

♪♫♪ When times get rough and friends just can’t be found ♪♫♪

Feeling insignificant is no small thing. We’re created in God’s image. When we feel insignificant, we’re saying that God Himself is insignificant.

If we look at ourselves honestly, sometimes we choose to remain unseen because it’s easier. It’s familiar. It doesn’t require anything of us.

We can move through our days appearing to function normally but inside our head be consumed by self-doubt and pain. We can do our jobs, attend social gatherings, get dinner on the table, mow the lawn … we can complete our tasks. But when we’re alone with our thoughts, those old, familiar patterns invade our mental space:

• if they only knew who I really was
• I feel left out, left behind
• they don’t like me as much as …
• I’m not as good at … as “they” are
• my personality rubs people the wrong way or my personality is invisible
• if only I was thinner, prettier, more athletic, more educated,  younger, older
• if only I had more money

These kinds of thoughts paralyze us and keep us from moving through or over trouble waters. This is often why we keep ourselves so busy with activity. We don’t want to be alone with our thoughts.

♪♫♪ Like a bridge over troubled water, I will lay me down ♪♫♪

But there are times we should feel small.

We feel small in the presence of new life.

There is nothing more intimate or awe-inspiring or miraculous than a brand new baby … a little human with a blank slate … no accumulated baggage, no unhealthy habits, no self-hatred, no judgmental attitudes … only pure love. The only thing that matters is their needs. Our problems seem small.

We feel small when we stand beside the sea.

“There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.”  ~Victor Hugo

Sometimes there are no words that come when we stand beside the sea, or when we are on a boat or ship completely surrounded by the silence and power of its waters. Water as far as we can see yet still knowing there is more out there. There is more than we can see. There is something bigger than we are. Our problems seem small.

These great and grand experiences give us PERSPECTIVE.

Dictionary definition: the faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship.

There is always more than we can see in this moment. In this moment we may feel small, unseen or insignificant. But if we step back, away from the situation, take the emotion out of it, and look for that bigger picture, we can regain our perspective.

♪♫♪ When you’re down and out, when you’re on the street, when evening falls so hard
I will comfort you  ♪♫♪

Perspective says: A bad day is not a bad life. A challenge is not a crisis. In a lifetime, today is a drop in the bucket. We can CHOOSE to let our days drift by in the familiar or we can live them intentionally, living in our purpose and calling.

BE the change … SEE people as you’d like to be seen, especially to those who serve us: restaurant servers, grocery clerks, receptionist, postal workers, customer service workers. And treat them accordingly. We can’t control how others see and treat us but we can bring encouragement to others in the moments we live every day.

♪♫♪ Sail on, silver girl … Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
If you need a friend
I’m sailing right behind
Like a bridge over troubled water ♪♫♪

Feeling small? There are always two ways to look at feeling small. There will always be troubled waters. There will always be a bridge.