Adulting

Adulting is hard.  I see T-shirts and various other paraphernalia that make this assertion.  I don’t necessarily want to agree or disagree in this context.  Instead I would like to point out the whiny nature of a so-called adult who would make that claim — and worse, pay money to broadcast his or her incompetence.

Personally, I want to be perceived by humanity at large as being generally functional.  If I were incapable of making my bed, or forming complete sentences without the aid of caffeine, or going a half-hour without looking at my smart phone, I would try to keep it a secret.  I might talk about it if I thought I genuinely needed help, but I certainly wouldn’t joke about it.

The problem is, some of us would rather be children.  Adulting brings responsibility, and then accountability.  If I can joke about my propensity for lingering in Mom’s basement playing video games, I might convince someone that no one should expect more of that from me.

It’s the same with regard to spiritual matters. “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Corinthians 14:20).  A simplistic look at evil is fine, or even preferable.  “Real life” is nuanced; it calls for wisdom (Ecclesiastes 9:17-18).  But if we grow in our faith — which is required, by the way (2 Peter 3:18) — more will be expected of us.  And that’s not what we want.  We would prefer to suck our spiritual thumbs for 50 years.

Spiritual adulting is hard — perhaps even harder than carnal adulting.  But that’s a challenge, not a deterrent.  Or should be, anyway.