Growing Up Series

06/10/2007

Growing Up (Gal 4:1-11)

How do you know when you have Grown UP?

I know what you are thinking – some of us never have

But really – how do you know?

Something kind of missing in our culture nowadays is a rite of passage, some ceremony that shows everyone that you have come of age.

It is a big deal in some other cultures

Barabaig culture in Tanzania, E. Africa

In their rite of passage for boys who are becoming men, their heads are shaved and they are cut down to the bone on their forehead with three cuts, from ear to ear

Among the Luiseño Indians boys are made to lay on top of red ant mounds being bitten by the ants without crying out for their initiation rite into manhood

It sounds strange and even a little cruel to us, but after they go through this ceremony, they are considered an adult. Or at least a young adult.

There is a clear line in time separating their childhood and their adulthood.

After they have crossed over that line, they are expected to act differently, more like an adult and less like a child. They gain new freedom, but they are also expected to take on new responsibilities, duties.

We do have some similar traditions in our culture.

There are milestones that mark the way, let you know that you are getting closer to being an adult.

I remember the first time I was allowed to drive a tractor on the farm, all by myself, all the way down the road to get a big bail of hay and take it to the field to feed the cows.

There was new trust, new freedom, but it came with new responsibility – I had to look out for where I was going, I was responsible for caring for the tractor while driving it, I was the one who had to remember to close all of the gates, check the fuel and oil on the tractor, look over the cows as they came to eat, look for anything unusual.

It was a big deal for me. If a kid is ready for it, the more you expect out of them, the more adult they try to be.

Then I remember getting my drivers license and my car. My mom got a newer car and I was allowed to drive the 1977 chevy impala. A dark day for the streets and sidewalks of Harrisonville. I got my first ticket for speeding before I even had the actual plastic license. I still had a paper printout waiting for the real one in the mail (not like now when you get it right away.) Testimony to the fact that kids don’t always step up and shoulder their new responsibility in a very adult like manner.

I drove my date to my first Prom when I was a Softmore in HS. It was close call whether I got to or not because I took a practice drive with my Mom and cut someone off on the freeway, almost got us both killed. After she got her heart started again, she decided to let me go ahead and drive anyway.

With a new car, I had a lot of new freedom – and my poor mother had a lot of new worries. I really feel sorry for her when I think back on my years growing up.

New freedom, new possibilities, I could get a job and start making money (another milestone) so I could pay for gas, buy some of my own clothes. Along with that freedom came new responsibilities. I was expected to begin acting more like an adult and less like a child.

Graduation ceremonies: from HS or College.

That ceremony is a milestone in the life of a person. Sometimes these events will come with a serious talk with one of your parents, as they impart some hard earned wisdom that only comes from experience, which the son or daughter normally lets go in one ear and out the other. Parents have an opportunity at these times to express their pride in their children, how they are maturing, the men and women they are turning into. It marks a time when more is going to be expected of you. You will be expected to begin supporting yourself, making decisions about your life, acting more like and adult, less like a Kid.

Move out of parents house. That can happen after HS, college,

Now again you have new freedom, :

No one to tell you when to go to bed, when to get up When to clean your room.

But you also have your own bills, your own job, you have to start acting like an adult,

YOU HAVE TO GROW UP