No shame about it, I am oblivious to so much of present-day outlooks and inner blindness. More times than naught, what matters most to a vast majority of today’s population hasn’t even crossed my radar screen. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging others or, even, myself. Simply speaking, I am merely confessing I am wired differently (possibly weirdly) than so many and so much of the word. Additionally, let me state I actually had to google sequence of classifications and whom they include to be able to pen my thoughts this blog. I mean, I know the alphabet forwards and backwards but had not a clue what a “Gen Z” is. You’ve probably guessed it’s generations and generational identity that I’ve paused and pondered this week.
To me, generations, solely, means the lineage of family. My soul, praise God, was formed, has grown and is grateful for the love, wisdom and unique heritage my family has instilled in me. This lineage begins with my Heavenly Father, who created me and constantly guides and guards me. He birthed me into a family possessing grandparents who loved me because God shared me with them and believed not only in God but, also, the dreams God had breathed into my heart and soul. Of even deeper significance and gratitude, God put my physical and spiritual life into the hands of His greatest set of parents — my Mom and Dad. Entrusted to them (and my greatest legacy) was the task of teaching me how to bend my knees and pray, pick myself up when I fall, scale the heights while remaining at grass roots level, and reach the stars and carry them back down to earth and share their beauty and meaning with all God’s children. Add my Brother, Christ, who loved me enough to redeem me and, finally, my two human brothers and sister who continually nudge my life’s journey with both encouragement and Kleenex to wipe away my tears and it’s obvious why generations, to me, is synonymous with family.
Sadly though, today, this is not the norm for society’s image of generations. My language of gratitude is almost unheard of, as combative words are routinely shouted amongst current generations. The elderly are aghast at the materialism of so many “young’uns”. In return, the peak of life members of society blame the “over the hill” for surviving by climbing mountains instead of leveling all playing fields. Once more, I’m not judging. On the contrary, my lament is over the family unit being trampled and the family circle being abolished by opposite sides being formed. For this, I do not shout in condemning anger but cry in sadness.
Generations are not to be divisively compared but unitedly shared. I believe God hears all prayers and in His time answers each and every one. Will you join me in praying our generations return from warring opposite sides to the love of an entwined circle?
On to a glance at generational “identity” in today’s world. One of the most celebratory days in my Dad’s life was when his fourth-generation great-grandson was born. Dad’s family name would be carried on!!! My Dad, however, made it clearly understood the passing down of his name carried not alphabet letters arranged in a certain sequence but the responsibility of bearing the order of his life — Love God, Love Family, Love your Country and its Freedom, Love your Fellow Mankind.
Again, I shudder at how, presently, society’s “identity” is not the “rite” to carry on but the “right” to separate and leave behind. I listen all around me as people proclaim their only identity is baby boomer, millennial or Gen Z, and whom they identify as “they are not” is totally to blame for all that is wrong.
Today is Christmas. No more perfect day is there to talk about our identity. Are we baby boomers, millennials, or Gen Z’s; or is our identity a child of God? Are we called to identify with luxury, mansions, wealth and popularity; or are we called to identify with meagerness, a stable, hardship and obscurity?
For many, the celebration of today comes from what it under a tree. This is not God’s calling but our listening to worldly undertones. God calls us to the manger and to celebrate the priceless gift it holds. What’s more, as we gaze at our Christmas trees, may we not look under it for the greatest of gifts but realize it is the Baby, born in a stable and who hung upon a tree to redeem us, that is our greatest gift. From generation to generation and as united family, “O, Come Let Us Adore HIM, CHRIST THE LORD”!!!
Uplifted in a Broken Down World 