When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13: 11-12

I often wonder what it means to be an adult. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul suggests that adulthood is gained once our childish ways are left behind. But, do we ever truly achieve this thing called adulthood? We grow up, move out on our own, get jobs, and maybe raise a family, but do we ever really leave our childish ways behind?

If we are all honest with ourselves I doubt the answer would be favorable. Much like a child we constantly ask why, we constantly seek answers. We want everything to fit into categories, to be perfect. We are confused when people around us make mistakes and life gets difficult. We strive to know, to see, and to touch.

I hear people searching for a sign from God, an outward symbol of great love and grace. But is that not like the reasoning of a child. Sometimes I wonder if we are living a grown-up version of peek-a-boo. When God is not within sight do we forget God was ever there? When God appears are we surprised?

Today I offer a new definition of adulthood, and maybe even salvation.

The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise. Alden Nowlan