Observations

Sometimes what appears obvious isn’t.  As good as our senses are, they, at times, do not convey the truth except in its’ narrowest form.  The results of everything we see and sense externally is not what is.  We have see the obvious and taken the next step.  Yet in the midst of everything we have missed the core.
 
Every generation thinks the next is going to hell.  The new comers ignore tradition, refuse to learn from history, and abandon the values, principles, and traditions we hold closest to our hearts.  Examples are everywhere!  Dress, social norms, and music are just the beginning.  Examine their treatment of the institutions previous generations have worked so hard to build.  From everything we observe we conclude there is a problem.  On top of everything they refuse to talk with us about it!
 
The challenge lies primarily in and with the one doing the observing.  It is important to remember how it was to see life without filters.  There was a time when one found hope in diversity.  I can remember vistas full of what might be, not what was.  Everything was and is possible, or so it seemed then.  Today I find myself with my peers wondering what has happened.  It isn’t just those who are younger.  God’s role is in question.  If I had one thing to say it would go like this…
 
“God, you've walked out on your family Jacob because their world is full of hokey religion, Philistine witchcraft, and pagan hocus-pocus, a world rolling in wealth, stuffed with things, no end to its machines and gadgets, and gods—gods of all sorts and sizes.  These people make their own gods and worship what they make.” (Isaiah 2.6-8) 
 
The irony rests in the unending truth of how we do with our conclusions.  Each generation revels in a hell of his/her creation.  Each community blindly believes they understand God and the present.  Perhaps it’s time for something new; eyes open, wondering, and in awe.  God is at work.  Opportunities of hope are waiting, ready for you and me.