This was written for my son's 14th birthday. It's based on a silly saying I had when I was a teenager. I used to say that from the time I was 20 to age 40, I would "grow down". I imagined one day I would have a teenager in my 40s that I would inevitably embarass, causing them to tell me to "Grow up, Mom!"----to which I would reply, "Yes". Now that I have said teenager, I have found great wisdom in "growing down".
You gotta be poor in spirit
You gotta be salt and light
You gotta show mercy
You gotta resist an evil person and not fight
And you gotta, gotta, gotta
You gotta grow down.
You gotta love your neighbor
You gotta enter through the narrow gate
You gotta bear good fruit
You gotta not murder with hate
And you gotta, gotta, gotta
You gotta grow down.
You gotta hunger and thirst for righteousness
You gotta be meek
You gotta be glad when you're persecuted
You gotta ask, knock, and seek
And you gotta, gotta, gotta
You gotta grow down.
You gotta have faith like a little child
You gotta care about the least
You gotta be last and not first
In a kingdom that will never cease
And you gotta, gotta, gotta
Gotta, gotta, gotta
You gotta, gotta, gotta grow down.