There are certain predictable moments as a child grows up. The “terrible twos” occur when a babies realize that they are not extensions of their mothers but rather individuals with their own needs and desires. They are terrible because the child does not have the maturity to communicate this effectively. Adolescence is a particularly dramatic turning point in becoming an individual. The child is moving out of the orbit of ones parents and developing their own set of values. These turning points demonstrate that becoming your own person is a necessary part of life. What the Bible teaches is that the person we are becoming is the one God made us to be. We don’t create ourselves. We are created in the image and likeness of God. The really mature person is one who is humble, realizing that all that they are is a gift from the God who loves them. As we grow in the spiritual life our motto becomes that of John the Baptist: “He must increase; I must decrease.”
