Is growing up like graduation,

A sudden change, an exclamation?

Or is it like radioactive decay,

As childhood wastes away?

 

Whatever the case may be,

What it is for you,

It will not be for me,

Because I think I grow

More like a tree.

 

Trees follow no formula,

They grow ever so slowly,

And it wouldn’t be noticed

By people not truly looking.

 

At what point did I learn

To live far from home?

Was it when I moved to college,

Or all along had I known?

 

At no one point did I learn

To stand on my feet,

And to do what is right,

Though others disagree.

For just like a tree

Barely sways in a breeze,

The strength I’ve acquired

Lets me stand when I need.

 

So have I grown up?

Or is growth just a process,

That goes on forever

With its gains and losses?

I think it’s the latter,

So it doesn’t matter,

How long I have lived

Or what degree I am after,

Of all knowledge I will never

In this life be master.

 

But learn all the more

Is what I will do,

For my love of learning,

An my love of the Truth,

For true is the One

Who made me

And made you.

So therefore I know

That through all of this life,

I will not finish growing,

Not by day nor by night.

 

Though I’m an adult now,

My tree will still grow,

Adding a ring for each year

As I increase what I know.

 

Forever I’ll learn

Who You want me to be,

For it is You I yearn for,

And You set me free.