Suddenly, I’m not so little anymore.

Thought:

Every single, seemingly small decision I make,

affects my purpose.

What I do with my purpose

affects my generation.

What happens in this generation will

affect the generation after.

“That is why we said, ‘Let us get ready and build an altar–but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices’. On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow that we will worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings.Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the Lord.'” Joshua 22:26-27

My generation

“Don’t be one of those people who looks for ways how to live life to the fullest.”

I was born in an era where there are so many options, it’s easy to get lost in them. I was talking to a friend not too long ago and we were discussing about our desire to make a change in the world. The only problem is, there’s nothing to change anymore. If we were born a century ago, we would be fighting for women’s rights. A couple of decades back, freedom rights for the discriminated. But now, everything that needs to be done had already been done.

And how many young people do you know are thinking that way? Walking through life trying to find a purpose, jumping from one desire to the next, hoping that it would give them validity? The generation today has the most options, the most liberated generation compared to all the other ones, and yet, why aren’t we heard?

The suicide rate amongst the youth has soared so high, I bet even the heroes of the past would get the shock of their…lives (hahah yes, attempt at “humour” right there). Teen pregnancies, depression, rape, violence…you know that there’s something wrong when fulfillment is replaced by increasing emptiness. Apparently people today are growing up slower; that is, when years ago you stopped being a child when you turn 9 and became an adult as soon as you could work on the field, today, at 28 years old, you’re not even called an adult yet. Suddenly we’re surrounded by kids too involved with themselves and at the same time not knowing where to go and what to do.

I grew up with the Philippine’s national hero’s famous quote: “The youth is the hope of the future” and as a kid, I used to be so proud of that. As I grew up, I found myself being chucked to the side thinking, “No, that’s impossible now. There’s nothing else to do anyway, and even if there was, what can I do? I’ll leave that to someone else.” And I’m quite certain there’s a whole lot of us with the same mind-frame.

But as I’ve recently learned, I shouldn’t be looking for ways how to live my life to the fullest; instead, I should be doing what this generation OUGHT to be doing. I was put in this generation, not out of coincidence and not so I could spend the rest of my life trying to figure out what it is I’m meant to be doing–I was placed in this generation because clearly, there are things that still need to be done, and I am an agent of change.

You want to know your purpose? You want to live life to the fullest? Then why are you looking anywhere else? God has the plan, He has the word. He just needs a voice. Are you looking for a big miracle, for the skies to open up to show that He exists? Well guess what? He’s not going to do that. He is looking for people that would seek to hear His voice which comes in nothing but a whisper in an era that is abound of things that vie for our attention. And you have to answer that call.

Like in Joshua 22, I also fear for that day when the next generation looks at me and says, “Why would I run after God? What did you do with Him anyway?” It’s terrifying to know that if I don’t answer His call now and choose not to be a part of this, I would not only fail my generation, I would also fail the next.

I’m leaving a legacy; that I was part of a generation, an army that ran the race and never looked back.

And since I’m bad at ending things…I’ll end this with: “I LOVE JHONI!!!” (haha)