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Good Morning, It is an awesome privilege to have a child. And an unexpected grace to see that child become an adult. My daughter has just turned 18 and has technically made the transition to adulthood. This week we symbolically said good night to the girl and good morning to the woman. I say symbolically because the definition of adulthood - when is starts, what it is - can’t really be nailed to a particular age; and it evades easy definition. Is it just about getting the vote? There is a proposal to extend the franchise in Wales to 16 year olds; but would this make them adults? The new adult in our house can now vote, but she’s living at home, economically dependent, and still growing up. Adulthood has been defined as the age at which a person attains a stable independent role in society; but what if that is delayed or cancelled altogether by circumstance? According to Brilliant Maps someone living in Europe doesn’t gain financial independence until they are nearly thirty. Whilst many young in the West remain infantilised by economics; children in other parts of the world grow up too soon because of war; or become adults more quickly because their way of life runs to a different rhythm. So what exactly does it mean to be an adult? We interact with them every day and often see them - some in positions of great responsibility - displaying less than adult behaviour. At the same time, we see that children are capable of blindingly mature insight and possessed of a wisdom beyond their years. Why else would Christ refer to them as being natural inheritors of His kingdom? Of course, the world wouldn’t function if it were only populated by Peter Pans; but there are qualities children possess that adults need to retain. When my youngest turned 18 someone pointed out that there were no longer any children in the house. To which I replied ‘Unless you count me.’ This wasn’t said completely in jest. I once heard an old preacher say he hoped he grew up before he grew old. It was an acknowledgement that the process of maturity – what the Apostle Paul calls ‘growing in stature and wisdom’ – is on-going and that, this side of the grave, may never be accomplished. I think this reality is liberation for any parent feeling they have somehow failed if they haven’t delivered a fully a formed adult by the time they turn 18. Yes, we need to help them move on from ‘drinking milk’ to ‘eating meat’ as scripture puts it, and to ‘leave behind childish ways’; but some of us never fully grow up – even when we’re parents. If becoming an adult can be marked once, on a particular day; growing to maturity starts the day we are born and doesn’t stop until the day we die.