Growing Pains

As a young girl I had recurring bouts of what momma would call growing pains. My arms sometimes hurt, but most often, it was my legs. I'd lay in bed at night crying. It seemed nothing would stop the pain. I'd eventually cry myself to sleep. In the morning, I'd wake up and head off to school with a skip in my step and a smile on my face as though the pain were a distant memory.

Now, as a grandmother, I remember my own kids going through these nighttime pains and one of my grandkids also suffers with them. I can assure my grandson, as I did his daddy when he was the same age, that it won't last forever. The pain of growing up will pass away.

Every good thing from above comes through pain and some sort of death it seems. Before seeds can be planted, the dirt must be broken, rocks removed, and weeds uprooted. Seeds die so that new life can begin. The frail young plant pushes it's way through the soil to fight it's way into the warm sunlight. Even as a tree or plant stretches higher, it's roots dig deeper. Focus too much on digging deeper, and it may not get all it needs to grow and to become fruitful. Reach too high or too fast, and the roots will be too shallow to withstand the storms or seasons of drought.

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Colossians 3:1-4 NLT

"Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven.... Think about the things of heaven.... For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory."

Colossians 3:1-4

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I do not enjoy watching my grandchild suffer the pain of growth, nor did I enjoy it when my son went through it. The hope I can share is that it will pass. Pain is part of life, but only a small part.

How do I break the news to them that the next pains to wake them regularly will not be from growing up, but a sign of growing old? Let's save that bit of news for another day.