This is what I see

It is amazing to watch my daughter, so young herself, parent her own small brood. She is filled with grace, wisdom and patience most of the time. She has compassion for her children and often puts aside her own needs to minister to the needs of her family. She is 21 and she has a husband, a toddler, and a newborn. She is training to be a La Leche League peer counselor. She has endured two pregnancies with hyperemisis gravidarum.

In contrast to my daughter's life, other young people choose to live together without marriage because they are too young to make that kind of commitment. Or they choose to end a pregnancy because they don't believe they are responsible enough to care for another human being.

I would compare my daughter's depth of commitment to those strong young men and women who enter the military and put their lives on the line to serve others or to those who go on missions trips or decide to become career missionaries.

Are young adults, 18-24 years old, for instance, just too young to handle such mature commitments? Is it wrong to allow them to jump into life's biggest challenges at a young age? Should we bless their decisions or beg them to stay children for a bit longer? Should we "punish" with a baby girls who become pregnant outside of marriage?

I believe many young people are ready to step into full adult roles at an early age. I see the evidence in the family which my daughter is founding with her young husband. She was not punished with an unwanted pregnancy-she and her husband chose to marry and then chose to begin having children. If she can do this, what else can young people do that we are often afraid to let them try?

Don't mistake me, though. My daughter has no idea of shrugging off her marriage if it gets too tough. She made a full, permanent commitment. The 18 year old who signs with the Army or the Marines has made just as deep a commitment to willingly lay down his or her life to defend the United States. In four years a soldier can move on, it's true, but during that time of service the commitment is complete and the possibility of losing ones life is as serious as the wedding vows.

Yes, I believe that some young people should be blessed for choosing to be career missionaries, getting married or joining the Army at an early age. Not all of them are ready, nor have all of them been prepared, but we should remember Paul's exhortation regarding Timothy, who advised his fellow Christ followers not to despise Timothy because of his youth. Let us not despise these wise and responsible men and women because of their youth. Let's love and encourage them instead.