The Challenges of Growing Up

It's funny how things change once we've grown up.  When I was a kid, I never really imagined or pictured how me and my siblings would turn out.  As a kid, I had an idealistic view of how things were and how things would turn out to be.  Sure, my siblings and I fought, perhaps more than some of my friends and their siblings, but in the end, we were family.  I figured that we would all grow up and become successful individuals.

You never imagine that your future adult selves will end up facing some of the things you do.  You never think that one of your siblings will be making poor choices and struggling with some of the issues that he or she is. You always believe that things will turn out differently than they actually do.  When they don't, it breaks your heart.  It hurts you.  It makes you want to curl up in a ball and dream of a time when life was simple and good and you didn't have to worry about adult things.

But we are in the adult world and we must face adult things.  And worrying about the problems of our siblings will not help them or make the challenges they face any easier, even if we wish it could.  No, the best thing we can do is pray.  It's not the easiest path, but it's the most comforting path, knowing that whatever happens, the God who gave up His Son to give us life will watch over our loved ones and give them, and us, the strength to face whatever it is they are facing.