When did I grow up?

So many things have changed in the last few years. Friends that I used to talk to all the time I barely have a chance to call now. Either I'm busy, or they're busy, or we've gone our separate ways and we occasionally think of each other and say a prayer, but never pick up the phone and dial a number. When did we go from being a group of kids who were all fired-up about God and life and the road ahead, to a group of pseudo-adults who can't tell up from down half the time? When did so many of my friends decide that the only way to fill the gap in their souls was with drugs, sex, and liquor? When did I miss the chance to be there for them, and would it have mattered anyway? When did other friends find lives of their own and stop bothering with "crazy Elizabeth"? When did I grow up? When did the world become a cruel and hostile place, instead of the setting of dreams and adventures of all kinds? When did simple things like rolling down a grassy hill or dancing in the rain become silly little kids' games? When did I cross that line from wanting to be thought of as a grown-up to actually being one and looking back with longing on the innocence and wonder of being a child? When did life become a game of survival, instead of a fairy tale where "they all lived happily ever after"?

When did I grow up, and what have I traded for my adulthood? Now I understand why we must be as children when we come to Jesus...adults would only scorn Him, ignore Him, or be too busy to even see Him in the first place.