Our youngest brother, Noah, has just celebrated his 13th birthday, and according to Botkin family tradition, is considered to have now joined the ranks of the Botkin Men. The age of 13 has been traditionally considered the threshold of manhood, something that we as older sisters take very seriously when prayerfully considering how to relate to our brothers.
Here is an excerpt from the speech Noah gave shortly before his birthday:
“This year I turn 13. This year I will become a man, and this is one of the great turning points of my life.
“When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11)
Now that I am a man, I have to do away with childish things. I have responsibilities. I have work to do for Christ’s kingdom. My conversation must glorify God. And I must study God’s word with a new passion, and unfailingly.
“Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are {just} a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14)
Now that I am a man, I need to be ready to die like a man. In a Titanic-style situation, I wouldn’t get on the boats safely with the women and children. I would stay and sacrifice my life with the other men. But not only would I have to stay on board, but I would be honored to stay on board and die. And not just for the women and children, but also for my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
It is a fine young man who has just been added to the numbers of the men of the world.
A birthday outing at one of Noah’s favorite places, where he has come to enlarge his personal library
It is sobering to watch a roly-poly little boy grow into a man of strength and stature, a man with big ideas and a mission, a man who will someday have great influence. We both remember helping baby Noah learn to lisp out our names; recently we heard him speak out about his willingness to die for his faith in front of a crowd of hundreds.
It’s interesting to now be grown women in a houseful of grown men, for all of our brothers have now (mostly) grown up. Instead of running to us to show us their latest Lego creations, they now come to us with their latest theological hypotheses. Yesterday they were picking out tunes on the piano and learning how to type — today they are writing books, making films, starting businesses and composing music professionally. Our childhood scheming together on how to build tree forts has matured into planning for projects that will impact the nations.
The five elder Botkin brothers and sisters, sixteen years ago
In the last sixteen years, family dynamics have only gotten better. As children, we were apprehensive about becoming grown-ups, afraid that the close bonds we reveled in would dissolve as new friends and interests would draw us apart, and become replaced by cool indifference. But instead, the years and shared experiences (and shared friends and interests) have only brought us closer.
Planning a sequence for Return of the Daughters
In those years, both we and our brothers have learned a great deal about the inherent differences between men and women, and why the two need each other.
We shall presently be posting more about our thoughts on the brother-sister relationship.
