Learning to Stay in the Frame
The mirror is round.
Smooth.
Carefully hung where a room can see itself.
The bed behind is made.
Pillows aligned.
Light arranged to feel calm.
And there you are—off to the side.
Not centered.
Not hidden.
Just present enough to be noticed if someone looks twice.
Many of us learned that safety lived at the edges.
Not too loud.
Not too visible.
Not demanding attention.
Just enough to exist without being questioned.
Shrinking trains people to live half inside their own lives.
Hovering at the margins.
Editing themselves before anyone asks.
But Christ does not heal people by pushing them out of the frame.
He invites them inward.
Gently.
At their own pace.
Stopping shrinking sometimes looks like allowing yourself to be seen at all.
Not dominating the image.
Not disappearing from it either.
Just staying.
There are seasons when even partial visibility feels risky.
When being noticed stirs old fear.
When presence itself feels like exposure.
Jesus understands that threshold.
He never drags people into spotlights.
He stands close.
He lets courage grow slowly.
If today all you can manage is to remain in view instead of stepping completely away, that counts.
If you let yourself occupy one honest corner of your own life, that is faith.
If you stop editing yourself out before others can, that is healing.
You do not need to vanish to keep rooms peaceful.
Jesus is teaching you how to stay in the frame.