I used to cringe when I heard Randy Newman's song, "Short People" with the reoccurring lyrics, "Short people ain't got no reason to live!" What about being short disqualifies us from contributing in life? Izzy, a canine, not a people, would take exception to this demeaning decree! A Norwich Terrier of miniature stature (stands all of 10 inches high), Izzy is a tornado of activity! Not only does she keep up with the hairy monsters that thunder all around her (imagine yourself running at knee high level to a pack of giants), but she often leads the "posse" in their wild chases. Undaunted when they roll her in their clumbsiness of foot, she has earned their respect to participate in their lives! Small isn't just cute; it is agile, resilent, determined, resourceful and... sneaky.

Case in point...Izzy once again. She leverages her tiny body and irresistable facial hair that pokes out in all directions, onto my lap as I am driving the gang to the park. No one else is small enough to solicit that privilege. Then she nestles in adorably and all but purrs. Only when I lift her off to exit the car do I realize Izzy's "nestling" wasn't about affection, but about working the zipper open on my fanny pack (turned to the front), which held all the yum yums for the trip. She had successfully consumed a big handful of dog treats single-muzzledly! Ah, the little sneak...maybe Randy Newman was right after all.

But that got me to thinking about small things. And that's probably what got me making a radical U-turn along a busy highway when I saw a "Bonsai Trees For Sale" sign, strategically placed in my path. The miniature oaks and elms sitting on the hood of a beat up car were irresistible! I was on my way to somewhere important, but something yelled "squirrel" inside of me and I was forced off course! I almost plunked down $195 for one of the rugged-trunked beauties. Something about their big tree appearance in Lilliputian form so captures my imagination that I am transported, like Gulliver, to the shade below their canopy of miniscule leaves. Perhaps it was the shrinking of my brain that made the $195 seem like such a deal. At least I had enough wherewithall to look at the small, younger, less expensive trees, but they just didn't have the character or transportive magic that the older, mature trees exuded. I wanted maturity, but I wasn't willing to pay for it.

Now that statement rattling around in my brain really got me to thinking. How like that I am in my willingess to allow God to form me over the years? I want the deep, wisdom-etched character of my bonsai beauties, but I want it now. Instant maturity. Those two words form an absolute oxymoron! And even more so in God's curriculum of character development! Like my bonsai friends, some wires are required, some branch trimming, some root restrictions... and lots of time! You can't rush such a work of art...it's a living thing that must grow into genuine maturity. That's what makes it valuable.

So, Randy Newman, take your diatribe against short people (and the millions you raked in from that song as tall people launched it to a #2 hit), and consider the irrepressible Izzies and the character-carved bonsais that make "small" absolutely delightful in this world!