“When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, ‘Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.’ He said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’” (Luke 2:48-49, NRSV)

It can seem that the hurdles life throws at us are constant, and that for holiness to be achievable, manageable circumstances are necessary. When we’re not overwhelmed by school or work, or when we’ve finally completed a project, or when a conflict has been resolved, that’s when we’ll be able to find and focus on God. If we can wade our way through a storm, we’ll be able to pursue holiness then.

What’s interesting about the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple is how it shows that the Holy Family encountered their own stresses and hurdles—and major ones at that. I think sometimes we can have the false impression that after Jesus was born, everything was easy for the Holy Family. I mean, Jesus was the perfect child! But the Bible shows that this is not the case at all, such as when the Holy Family had to flee to Egypt to evade Herod. Even the holiest family of all time faced extremely stressful circumstances, and they had to wade through many harsh storms. 

How many times in our lives have we felt like Mary and Joseph? Feeling desperate and like everything is entirely out of our control? Like God is nowhere to be found in the chaos and stress of our lives?

I know I have: every time I feel overwhelmed with an ever-growing to-do list, or hopeless that I’m going to succeed in my goals, or stressed about how a certain problem or conflict is going to be resolved. Every time, I want to ask God: Where are You? What are You doing?

“Why have You treated me like this?”

But Mary and Joseph give us the perfect example of what to do when life is unmanageable and out of our control: they go to the Father’s house, and there they find God. 

While we can’t control our lives, God is all-powerful. While the world can be cruel, God is loving and merciful. Instead of diving deeper into our struggles, trying to solve them ourselves, we’re called to turn to the Father, to rely on His strength. Trying to wade through storms on our own is fruitless, but by turning to the Father, He draws us closer to Himself.

We don’t need an obstacle-free life to grow in holiness. We only need the Father, and a dependent, childlike heart.