So, I was putting together the Valley Life section of the paper this week, adding in sermon topics when they became available.

On Wednesday, I received the sermon title for the Cadiz Presbyterian Church. It is entitled, “I Thought it Would Be Easier.”

Well, I instantly fell in love with what they would be speaking about. For some reason, it just resonated with me.

Now, I have absolutely no idea what the church will be discussing in its message to the congregation.

That is, unless I go and listen to their preacher and hear his meaning behind why he chose this particular title. I am kind of curious. I decided to make that the subject of my column this week.

Now, I honestly have no way of knowing if I am stealing their concept or not. Chances are, I am not. Besides, I like to think I am only “borrowing” their title, not “stealing” from a church.

I thought it would be easier …

When I was little, I believed life would be a lot better and much easier, if only I were an adult.

Adults get to drive.

Adults are permitted to use profanity without having to get their mouths washed out with soap.

Adults can eat whatever they want, when they want.

If adults want cookies or brownies for breakfast, it is acceptable.

Adults are not forced to eat their broccoli or Brussells sprouts so they can “grow up big and strong.”

I even used to hear some adults tell young children, “It’ll put hair on your chest.”

Why would I want hair on my chest? But I digress.

I thought it would be easier …

When I was little, I believed life would be a lot better and much easier, if only I were an adult.

Big people get to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. And these kind of actions always make them appear to be very “cool.” And everyone wants to be “cool,” don’t they?

Adults can buy whatever they want, right?

They do not have to rely on a weekly or monthly allowance from doing chores.

I thought it would be easier …

When I was little, I believed life would be a lot better and much easier, if only I were an adult.

Adults didn’t have to do chores to earn an allowance. Chores are hard. Taking out the garbage, washing dishes, taking out the dog, washing clothes, cutting the grass, making the bed.

Adults do not have to save every penny like children do with their allowance just to purchase what they want.

Gee, it must be nice to be an adult. Or so I thought.

Yes, when I was little, I thought it would be easier … to be an adult.

And then I blinked.

Before I knew it, I actually was the adult. And I quickly learned that it certainly is not easier than being a child.

Since becoming that adult I always wanted to be, my ways of thinking have changed.

In fact, being an adult is probably the most difficult thing we will ever have to do.

Did you ever wake up and say to yourself, “I don’t want to adult today?” I have.

It certainly is a beautiful thought.

It’s funny how children want to grow up so quickly and become an adult because of all of the wonderful things they will be able to do.

Funny how adults wish for a time machine so they can go back and become a child once again.

We think it will be easier.

When I was an adult, I believed life would be a lot better and much easier, if only I were a child once again.

Children do not have responsibilities. They don’t have bills to pay or appointments to make and keep track of.

To a child, clock hands are irrelevant. There is no need to look at the time the way that adults do. Those two hands determine our very lives, each and every day … when to wake up, when to go to sleep, when to eat, when to be at the doctor’s, when to send our child to school.

As an adult … I thought it would be easier to be a child.

Children can play outdoors with friends until it’s time to go home and eat the dinner your mom cooked while sitting around the table with family.

Children get tucked into bed, kissed goodnight and have someone check to ensure there aren’t any monsters in the closet or under the bed.

Children have someone who will put them at ease so they can sleep peacefully, without worrying about what tomorrow will bring.

I thought it would be easier …

When I was little, I believed life would be a lot better and much easier, if only I were an adult.

Turns out, driving isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be … traffic, road rage, car accidents, flat tires, dead batteries, drunk drivers, speed limits, car maintenance and gasoline prices. And profanity? I know some adults who should still have their mouths washed out with soap. Kind of makes you wonder if they have any vocabulary skills at all.

It turns out adults can not eat whatever they want when they want it. You get fat (sometimes, morbidly obese;) your teeth break apart (if they don’t fall out of your mouth, completely;) you end up having to take vitamins or supplements, because if you don’t, you wind up in the emergency room with medical problems and have to be on medication for the remainder of your life.

I thought it would be easier …

But that drinking and smoking which makes you “cool?” In time, they only cause our bodies to deteriorate right before our eyes. Livers are ruined, lungs stop working, skin physically yellows, additional damage to our teeth and gums, cancer, forced to wheel around an oxygen tank just to take a breath.

Those “cool” activities ruin our health, our bank account, our lives and the lives of those who love us the most. And that is anything but “cool.”

I thought it would be easier …

Turns out adults rarely get to buy what they want, when they want it … unless they are single and earn a large paycheck. And unlike allowances, paychecks must be earned through work.

We do not have the luxury of getting out of our job the way children can get out of doing their chores. Our siblings can’t go to work for us, we can’t tell our boss we have homework or are tired. And we still have to come home and do the chores … the laundry, the dishes, taking out the garbage.

And all of our money is going to the water bill, the electric, the gas, the mortgage, the insurance, the car, the college fund and the household necessities.

Yes, when I was young … I thought it would be easier. Easier to be an adult. But it isn’t.

I thought it would be easier …

And when I was an adult, I believed life would be a lot better and much easier, if only I were a child once again.

Turns out, today’s children do not play outside with friends, and instead, use social media where they are ridiculed to the point they commit suicide.

Children rarely sit around the table eating a home-cooked meal with their family.

Many households are broken homes. Fast-food is the easier option. There are no malls to visit with friends. No one goes on dates anymore. Boys always break your heart. There are cliques and outcasts. There’s excessive homework because everyone wants college credits before graduating high school.

As an adult, I thought it would be easier to be a child. As a child, I thought it would be easier to be an adult. The truth is, every age is a difficult one. And all we can really do, is try.

(Stenger is the community editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times. She can be contacted at jstenger@heraldstaronline.com.)