youth

Too often in our society today, young people are taught to do what they want, when they want, and whatever they want. They are intensely guided to be whatever they feel like on that particular day, or even hour, and they are excused for any outbursts, irresponsibility and even wrath. They are coddled and cradled with every whim of desire.

Please understand, I don’t say this out of judgement or anger, as some might want to claim, as any disagreement in this culture is also taught to be certain judgment and hate speech. No, this comes more from a heart of disappointment and sorrow. Too often, our young people today are deprived of strength, dignity and grace because of this mentality of neglect and immaturity. They are robbed of knowing true respect and honor from hard work, self evaluation and strong decision making for the choices presented in their lives.

It seems there is more cultural pressure to remain a child well into the adult years, and then when this choice is made, they wonder why they don’t have the respect and honor from their elders that they so desire. They cannot see that, as an adult, the lack of standards and values does not make you a more intellectual and affluent human being, but rather, it causes you to appear more childish and infant-like. Then they wander aimlessly through life with empty eyes and hollow hearts blaming all those around them for the pain and lack of life they live.

This is a sad state of affairs I see before me, and although, I am not able to change the whole world, and I may not be able to impact all those around the globe, I can start within my own home. I can start within my own community, my own neighborhood, my church and my city. It only takes one small match to start a wildfire. It only takes one youth to change a nation.

Let’s start right here, right now…

“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, LORD; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.”‭‭Psalm‬ ‭119:9-16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

http://bible.com/111/psa.119.9-16.niv

Today, I’d like to share with you a piece our oldest son wrote the other day… his honesty through prose simply amazes me and humbles me…

Pretend your heart is like white converse. You wanna keep it clean so you pray and worship while you’re at church, but once you go to school, you may cuss someone out cuz they “hurch” you. And it’s like dirt, cuz it ruins your reputation. You see reputation comes along with your outspoken salvation. Cuz, once you’ve made an example to one person, it’ll spread. And though you may apologize, you’ll keep living in dread, cuz of the one thing you maybe said keeps coming back to guilt you. So, you think that if you keep doing it, you’ll be okay, but to your dismay, you just dig yourself a deeper hole. So, when you lie about it to your parents, your mindset will take its toll and mess you up much more than you could ever imagine. Your demons turn into dragons, and you have these night visions of flames of hell engulfing you while you’re waiting for God to start talking to you, but you’re too far gone, because you haven’t confessed of what you’ve done. So you try and run. Run from the ones you hurt and skurt to a last resort to be like Kurt. You start to flirt with death. But all around you, it’s like Macbeth, cuz your world is falling apart at the seams when you replay the memories like scenes in a movie until you can’t take it anymore, and you fall apart. This is a lot of what I’ve been going through. I’ve been lost, not knowing what to do, until I talked to someone, and he told me the truth, and I’ve been trying to get closer. Closer to who I need to be. Now, if you can see where I’m going, I ask for you to accept my apology. I know it’ll take time, and I need a clean slate and accountability, but if I confess and repent, the Lord will help. So, I ask if you could forgive me for what I ruined with y’all, and after I’ve knelt before God, I hope I can make things right. That’s all I have to say tonight. Thank you.

Penned – JG – 3/28/17