Vol. 15 No. 48 | December 10, 2012
When I was a child the 365 days between one Christmas and the next seemed more like what I perceived must surely be an eternity. Now it seems like we just celebrated it last week.
When I was a child birthdays seemed to be more than a year apart…at least two or three years. I sometimes wondered if my birthday had been skipped. Now it seems like birthdays come once a month, and there is a temptation to skip one or two.
When I was a child I thought that people who were my current age seemed to really old, full of knowledge, stories, and wisdom. Now I think children seem to be really young, but full of knowledge, stories, and wisdom.
When I was a child I dreamed of what it would be like being a grown-up making my own decisions and setting my own schedule. Now that I am a grown-up I dream of what it was like as a child not having to make decisions and having no schedule to keep.
When I was a child I thought life would be easier when I became an adult and had my own job and my own money and could spend it on anything I wanted. Now that I am an adult I dream of what it was when I was a child and did not have a job and did not need any money and my parents provided anything I needed.
When I was a child I thought life was completely unfair and I was being terribly deprived. Now that I am an adult I realize how much I have been blessed and how kind and graciously God has treated me.
When I was a child I thought adults were way too serious, did not know anything, and that I had all the answers. Now that I am older I realize that I am sometimes way too serious, that I really do not know much of anything, and I have very few answers.
When I was a child I never thought about growing old and did not realize how quickly life can change. Now that I am older I cannot help but think about growing old and sometimes shudder at how quickly life can change.
When I was a child I thought almost everyone was nice and could not imagine anyone being cruel. As I have grown older I have learned first hand that everyone is not nice and that sometimes we can be awfully cruel to other people — sometimes even people we say we love.
When I was a child I thought God loved everyone and everyone loved God. Now that I am older I realize that God does indeed love everyone and cannot understand why everyone does not love Him.
“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” (1 Corinthians 13:11, NIV84)
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I have tried to put childish ways behind me, but sometimes I wish I could go back to being like a child.
Tom
© Copyright 2012 Tom Norvell. All rights reserved.