Safe in His Hands

It's weird--growing up. It's an awkward place to be. One day you're respectfully addressing your elders as Mr. or Mrs. So and So and the next they are telling you to call them by their first names. Not only that, they actually start talking to you like you're an adult, telling you about their job opportunities or asking your thoughts on theology and church liturgy, not a conversation frequently encountered when you're a kid.

And so you begin the transition. The next time you see Mr. So and So you call him that out of habit only to have him remind you that it's Bob or Jim. It's not that you don't understand, it's that it's so unfamiliar, so awkward and wrong-feeling that you can't bring yourself to actually call him by his first name. You cling to your old ways, not wanting to leave them because then that means you've actually grown up and who wants to do that? Especially in today's economy.

Suddenly, the political debates are now important to keep up with because you're now going to be immediately affected by the way the government handles things. You have to find a job if you plan on moving out of the house any time soon. The newness of it all is simply terrifying and the enormity of the responsibility you're taking on weighs you down as if an invisible force field is keeping you from standing up completely straight. And yet, there's no turning back. You are where you are and though you may want to go back to your worry-free childhood, you know that there's only one way to go and that's forward.

So how does one make this transition? Maybe it's out there but I haven't seen a "Growing Up for Dummies" manual in the bookstores. And when do you stop transitioning and arrive?

Perhaps I have built myself up for a grand, insightful explanation but I'm going to have to disappoint you, my kind reader, because I really have no idea. All I know is that God is sovereign and that I should trust Him, follow His principles, and pray for wisdom. I am safe in His hands and He will not forsake me.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." -Joshua 1:9