A Liturgy for Growing Up

Devotional

Something's happening to you and you can't stop it.

Your shoes don't fit like they did last year. Games you used to love feel different now. Friends change. Your body changes.

The stuff that makes you laugh is moving around. So is the stuff that makes you cry.

And somewhere in the middle of it you start to wonder: is anything going to stay the same?

The Bible gives you an honest answer, and the first half might not be what you want.

Some things won't.

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven."

Seasons change. That's how God set it up. Spring turns into summer. Summer turns into fall.

And right now you're in a turning season. Parts of being little are falling off. Parts of something new are showing up.

That's not a mistake. That's the design.

Now here's the other half.

God isn't changing.

He's not backing away. He's not surprised by who you're turning into.

The psalm says: "Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb."

Before you knew anything about God, God knew everything about you. Before your first breath he was already carrying you.

And listen to how far that goes:

"Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save."

From the womb to gray hair. First day to last.

He doesn't hand you off. He doesn't set you down when you get heavy.

And here's something amazing. Jesus grew up too.

Luke says it plain: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature."

The Son of God got taller. He learned things. He went through all the weird stretchy parts of turning from a boy into a man.

So he knows what this feels like. Not from far away. From the inside.

And all those quiet years in Nazareth weren't wasted time. They were getting ready for the cross and the empty tomb.

Your growing up isn't wasted either.

Paul has a word for what God's doing in you: "We all... are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another."

One degree at a time. Not all at once. Season by season.

So when the changes feel too fast or too strange, remember this.

The ground under your feet keeps moving.

He doesn't.

He's been holding you since before you were born, and he hasn't let go yet.