I was always small as a kid growing up.  A bout of undiagnosed allergy triggered asthma caused me to not grow for a year when I was two years old, or so I am told.  I also had a late birthday so when I started my senior year of high school I was only sixteen years old. 

I was picked on incessantly as a kid all through school.  My small size and smart mouth got me in a lot of trouble.  It got so bad at one point that I hung up a pair of my old jeans in the barn stuffed with old shirts and taught myself to box.  After a couple of rounds the other kids decided that fighting me was a bad idea so they just picked on me verbally instead which was just as bad.

I wanted to be taller when I played basketball in high school as it was my passion.  I would shovel off the dirt basketball court outside the house even in the dead of winter and shoot baskets with gloves on.  It paid off on the court as I became one of the best 3-point shooters in the school and that was long before the three point rule.

As I have gotten older though I have discovered that being a little smaller, a little shorter sometimes has big advantages.  I can’t tell you how many times I have been thankful for being able to fit through a small opening or squeeze into a crawl space. 

Big things really do come in small packages.  Some of my favorite people are small.  They are the ones I am the most afraid of!  My daughter for example is only about 5’1” but I have rarely seen anybody as bold as she is.  She doesn’t back down from anyone and a verbal confrontations you are sure to loose.

My favorite dance partner is like that as well.  She is small but mighty, quiet but steadfast.  I don’t mess with her either.

I have a guitar like that, a Riversong Vienna.  I picked it up yesterday at Speno’s Music.  This parlor size guitar may be small but the sound is mighty.  When I first started playing it I kept looking down thinking I had one of my full size guitars.

I also like to remind myself that it is the small things that matter most like a smile, saying hello, please and thank you.

Be mindful of the small things.  They make the world a better place.