My almost twelve-year-old sat curled up on the couch beside me on a Tuesday night. “It’s been a hard week, Mama.” I smiled to myself, as I thought about how the week had just begun. He then listed all of the things that were troubling him. I could hear sadness in his voice and see tears in his big brown eyes. At that moment I realized, more keenly than ever, that my son was in the tumult of adolescence, and there was nothing I could do to fix it.

Growing up isn’t easy.

My thoughts turned to God and our countless conversations (or maybe I should say my one-sided rants). Like my son, I come with my list of things gone wrong. Crying, sometimes fighting, I lay my burdens down, only to take them up again as soon as I say “Amen”.

Growing up isn’t easy. And yet…

One of the most cherished names for Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. The Father sent the Son, “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate Deity”, as Charles Wesley describes in his famous Christmas carol, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.”

This is love, to come and to stay in the midst of sadness, anger and fear. 

My son and I sat together in the silence. I listened to what he did not say. My heart ached because I knew he was hurting and I couldn’t make it stop.

Growing up isn’t easy. 

With the birth of the Son come “tidings of comfort and joy” and the promise that “He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found”.

Growing up isn’t easy.  But God doesn’t leave us alone.