Sometimes I get so discouraged! The culture is shifting under my feet. Everything is morphing so quickly. I lose my balance. How does one stay steady through it all?
For one thing, all of my “stuff” has changed. I now love my tablet the way I used to love my sony walkman..or even my transistor radio. And I plan on loving my driverless car or hovercraft someday!
Conventions are changed too. I enjoy texting, but sometimes I send snail mail letters just for the novelty of it. I used to consider it rude if someone did not join in conversation at dinner because of an online conversation with someone not present, but ……WAIT! I STILL DO!
So how do I stay current and up to date without feeling like a dinosaur? One way is to recognize that while much is changing, there are some things that are always the same. Truth is always true. Beauty and goodness are always beautiful and good. These things consistently are present, to some degree, wherever God’s image bearers (us humans) exist. So I am on the lookout for these.
Millennials are different from me. They don’t remember an unconnected world. They travel more. But they are also much the same. They still feel lonely and long for deeper relationships. They still long to be understood. The ability to stay in touch with many more friends, even though they are far away, is a good thing. But deep connections still take time and effort and they miss out on some of that. They are too distracted! That is one of the ways I think they are off course. Though there are others, in some
sense, they are better than previous generations. For one thing, I don’t think they idolize status and material wealth as much. That is a good thing. But then, they also don’t value authority as much, and that is a bad thing. So….
As I think about it, change can be good and change can be bad. But there will always be change. I am going to try and stay focused on finding, in these shifting sands, what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely and commendable. I want to focus on these things…to dwell on them and point them out and promote them. And when I find something that is truly pleasing, I am going to try and share it with others……sometimes by snail mail!
