Growing pains and gains

It's not easy to grow up. Actually it's far from easy. Growing up can be a real "pain" for some of us. We are always doing things that someone else makes us do and aren't allowed to do all the things we like. Sometimes we feel trapped, sometimes we are fearful, and sometimes we just don't understand why we can't stay young forever. When we look back on all the hardships in life with a positive attitude（态度）, we realize that all of our growing pains actually turn into growing gains！

As a young girl my parents forced my sisters and me to do so many things that I never liked. They made me learn to play the violin and then the piano. At that time I hated music, just because it was what they wanted me to do. But looking back now, I am so glad that my parents encouraged me to take music lessons. Music has enriched my life in so many ways. I realize that my parents and teachers were always pushing me along, not because they wanted me to suffer but because they wanted me to succeed in life. They've always wanted me to have a better life than they did themselves.

Every moment of our lives we are either living or dying, so live life to its fullest！We are all going to experience growing pains, but they are just small pains in life. They might seem so huge at the time but we must be strong. Think about how we would feel if we had no fear and live life like that. The future is ours！

A little hard work and sweat never hurt anyone！If we realize that these pains are just small bumps（凸块）on our road to success we will realize that our growing pains are actually growing gains！

   A beautiful，young girl is smiling at me from a picture frame on my desk as I write this. She is my sponsored child from the Philippines and even though I have never met her _________ she has found a special place in my heart. It doesn't _________ me much to help her，about a dollar a day. _________，millions of people in this world live on _________. The joy that helping her gives me，however，is _________ price，which I never experienced in my life. It _________ me to her，to life，and to love.

I can _________ remember the first time that I decided to help a child _________. It was many years ago. I was only a teenager myself and for the first time in my life I had a little extra money each month. I didn't feel like _________ anything，though. We lost everything we had in a house fire a few years ago and going through that had __________ me a lot. I had learned that I didn't need a lot of "stuff" to be __________. I had also read a lot about the __________ of children in poor countries around the world. It seemed like a far better thing then to __________ what I could to help them. With my mom's love and support I soon found a few __________ like Children International that were serving others around the world. It felt so good being able to __________ and help another in need. It felt so good being able to make even one life better. I could feel the mercy and empathy（共鸣）growing within me and beginning to __________ me.

Empathy does change us. It makes us into better people with bigger __________ and a clearer view of life. It shows us that we truly are one __________ on Earth. It helps us to love, to be kind, and to make this world a __________ place.

Let your empathy grow then. Let your love grow. Let your heart grow bigger and bigger every __________ day.

   I was one of the young US soldiers in Saudi Arabia. At one time before the Internet，our only lifeline to friends and family was the mail we sent and received.

One evening the mail soldier called my name and，instead of a letter，handed me a large box from my grandmother in Oklahoma. One of the great hardships of the war for me was the absence of my grandmother's cooking—her fried chicken and onion，corn bread，and，most of all，her desserts. But on that evening I was about to take a gastronomic（美食的） journey home: I opened the box and found two dozen pies made by my grandmother.

A man from New York approached and asked me what I had received. I couldn't answer；my mouth was full of pie. So I just offered him one. “So nice！”he said. “What are they？”He had to wait a few moments for an answer，but eventually I explained. As insurance，I offered him another pie to keep him quiet.

Once a day for the next three weeks，I imagined returning home to my grandmother's kitchen，if only I had had a few sweet bites at a time.

Some of my earliest memories are associated with my grandmother's pies. She had been baking pies since before the Great Depression. She would have astonished the judges on today's TV cooking challenges. I remember coming across a persimmon（柿子）tree once while out hiking. It was autumn，and the fruit was soft and sweet. I picked a few dozen and brought them to Grandma. Guess what！The next day I walked into her kitchen to find a persimmon pie waiting for me.