When there is too much to carry, the world gets too big, the news gets too terrifying, and the sky gets too dark, help me to get small again. Not to feel small but to get small again – to get close again to what I can see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears.  Dry hands as winter approaches. Voices of little ones talking to one another over cinnamon toast, expertly making sense of the smallest one’s babbles in his attempt to keep up with the conversation with his older brothers.

As I get small and get close, I call upon God for what I need.  Around this radius of three feet or so, grant the light to shine like a warm light on a dark morning.  Let peace be.  Soon, the world no longer rushes and there is stillness.  And I remember that the world’s troubles are too much for one person to absorb, process, and address at one time, in one hour, in one day, in one lifetime.

And yet it is here in this one small human life that God comes and transforms everything.  Jesus Christ is the testament that there is no human life too small to change everything.

On these days, I pray the simple prayer:

Let the change be with me this day.
Let the change be in me this hour.
Let the change be through me this whole life long.

Not to my glory or my paycheck or my status.
Not to the glory of a political party or human institution or society’s approval.

Let the change be to the glory of God.  Let peace pour forth from the throne of grace where God calls us to approach with open arms ready to receive mercy and grace – more than I can carry.

Let it all be more than I can carry.