Hard to Let them be Men

I am watching my oldest nephew go through a kind of discernment process. It is so difficult. He is considering enlisting in the Army and how do you freak out over such an honorable choice?

Of course I would like it if there was not a war on, and I would also like it if he was in his second year at a fine University and a member of a fraternity and worrying about things like finals, the next football game and whether or not his hair looks right for his date but that is not in the cards for this young man.

And he is a man. He is a good, honorable man. He is one that any parent would be proud to claim and certainly this Auntie is proud to point at him and declare him a member of her family.

I know he is called to do service - he wants to go into Law Enforcement and the military is a way for him to fulfill that dream.

I just wish...well, you know. I wish our children that we all love so much would have an easy life of puppy dogs and fairy tales.

There. I admit it. I wish things would be easy as pie for him, always...not because he is my child. He is not my child. He is, however, the light of my life and if I could wave a magic wand for him that would get him his heart desires I would do it.

And yes I know that is not how the world works.

So, please keep him in prayer. Pray for him and for all the young men and women who have taken up this challenge of service to this nation. They are our best and brightest.

But tonight I wish he was ...well, dumb and dim.