Hebrews 5: Am I Mature?

I go back and forth on this question.

Some days, I feel like an adult.  Some days, I don't.  That's pretty normal for folks in their 20's (even their late 20's, when they have a wife, a son, two dogs, two degrees, two mortgages and bad knees).

In Hebrews 5, the author of Hebrews steps back from the theological teaching and moral admonishment to provide a meta-comment as to the condition of his hearers: "This is hard to explain because you are slow to learn." 

I'll be honest, I'm struggling with Hebrews.  I'm struggling to see how the pieces connect, struggling to pay attention to every verse (and not just the ones that are memorable or controversial), struggling to read it at all. 

I don't like to think that I'm slow to learn.  I graduated near the top of my class at Jesuit, Duke and Oxford.  I'm kind of proud of my ability to learn.  And maybe that's part of the problem.

I wonder if I haven't abandoned the milk too soon, jumped to solid food too quickly.  One of my best friends has a daughter just a little bit older than Will, my son.  She's struggling to maintain her body weight because she is bored with her formula and only wants to eat solid food.  She isn't ready for solid food yet.  And that's not something to be ashamed of or ignore...in a baby.

Solid food, in Hebrews, is for the mature, who are acquainted with the teaching about righteousness, who "by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

That training idea keeps following me.  Training, not trying.  Training.

Maybe I need more milk, need to return to "the elementary truths of God's word" again, before I'll be ready to be a teacher.

Am I mature?  Depends on who you ask and when you ask them.  If you ask me and you ask me today, I'll say I'm in a milk-drinking place.  For now.

Maybe Hebrews will change that.