Being a Big Girl Is Hard

"In everything do to others as you would have them do to you. ..."(Matthew 7:12)

Bonnie stood in front of me, tears streaming down her sad little face. In a voice of abject misery she said, "Mumma, when I was a little girl and something bad happened to me, you’d lovey me till I felt happy again. How come now that I’m getting to be a big girl I have to get happy all by myself?"

Instantly my arms went around her as she nestled close and dampened my sweater with her tears. I felt tears prick my own eyelids. My "big girl" was only seven years old. I realized that I had been expecting too much of her because she was the oldest child.

It is so easy to hustle our children out of their happy early childhood. It is simpler for us if they become independent, especially if there are younger children needing care. But "Big girls don’t cry" is neither a true nor a realistic statement.

Actually the age doesn’t matter, does it? At any age, 7 or 70, a hug can help dry the tears. Simple caring heals wounds for both the child and the hurting adult. The added bonus is that it blesses the hugger as well as the "hug-ee."

Beyond the Door
1. What ways do you have in your family for "drying the tears"?

2. What ways for "drying the tears" did you have in the family in which you grew up?

3. Maybe the bumper sticker that reads "Have you hugged your child today?" is good "bumper-sticker theology," after all?

4. If you were making a bumper sticker for yourself, what phrase would you use to say that your child (or grandchild, or any special child in your life) is important to you? To God?