Having a rare five minutes while waiting in an office with nothing good to read, I flipped over to my phone’s news feed. I don’t do this very often, but do check in occasionally and this seemed as good a time as any. One of the articles caught my eye immediately, and in it I found a link to another write-up concerning Millennials. I know some of those critters, having given birth to more than just a few, so I was curious.
The news was bad.
It was real, real, really real bad.
From what I can tell they are whiney, lazy, entitled, electronic-addicted, selfish brats. And so, some of them are.
However, I have something that will give you a little hope.
This is my baby girl. Well, one of five of my b
aby girls. She is the one who is smack-dab in the very middle. Two sisters older and two sisters younger and she is every bit, by definition, a Millennial as are her sibling bookends.
I came to the big city this week to be with this particular daughter and to help with our precious little four, almost five-year-old, granddaughter. It’s one of my favorite jobs. She is a little snuggle bug with a bend towards the mischievous and today is her birthday. As she and I were nestled in a light down comforter sleeping on a fluffy pillow top I could hear her mama, my daughter the Millennial, scurrying around downstairs. Then upstairs in the little office. Then downstairs again and so on and so forth until our little blond birthday girl opened her bright blue eyes.
As with most little ones, and especially with it being her birthday, she bounded out of the bed and sprinted downstairs where she was greeted by a bright happy birthday banner draped in the dining room window, and the smell of sweet rolls wafting through every nook and cranny. Let me add that this was transpiring at barely 7am and while my daughter was accomplishing this birthday feat she was also preparing for her day teaching high school.
The night before today’s sun greeted us, we held hands around their supper table and each little hand was linked in a big one and each of us prayed. Our daughter was raised in a home where grace was always said before any meal but it was usually said by her dad, or me if he happened to be gone. Hearing our two little grands pray last night blessed me completely and made me wish I’d thought of that when their mama was little!
Do I think that the kiddos following us of the Gen X group have a few, well, issues? Yes. Yes, I do. But I also think that my generation is far from perfect. I mean come on, we’re the ones that decided that everyone getting a trophy was a good idea. Seriously, how does that emulate real life? None of us are perfect and even the “greatest generation” as we call those who journeyed through WWII, had their issues; but as the birthday banner hangs in the window and smell of warm sweet rolls continue to linger, I smile and have a little hope. I remember nothing has or will happen that will be a surprise to our Father.
I know, the voices of those who intolerantly scream that we who disagree with them are intolerant, are the same voices who have to have ‘safe rooms’ when things don’t go their way. And yes, they do appear, as a whole, to exhibit very selfish behavior; however, there is a remnant.
While their peers wail, they work. They strive, they learn, they walk their own path and they are our hope. They’re raising their children with boundaries and rules and teaching them responsibility.
It’s alright. All is not lost.
I know seven of these ‘millennials’ and while most of my sweet group are teachers or almost teachers, one will start his last year of law school in the fall and one is working towards a degree in science. They are achievers and hard workers and they inspire those around them and they are not the only ones. Our church family is actually chock full of millennials and I adore them to pieces!
As I read that article about the doom and gloom we are in for with the millennials a verse about God having a remnant came to mind.
Romans 11:5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.
By reading the whole chapter we know that Paul was writing and talking about Israel not ever being cast away. He has a plan and those who are in Christ Jesus are either in the original graph or are part of the original root (yep, there are some Jewish believers out there). So, take heart, I promise all is not lost. There are some times and there are going to be some times that are scary and more than a little difficult but our loving Father has the last say and we have nothing to fear.
Not even the Millennials are mightier than the Father, and trust me, there will be good and godly leaders come out of even that group.
Truly, it’s all going to be okay.
Blessings and Shalom,
Joycesarah