Psalm 9:1 “I will thank the Lord with all my heart; I will declare all Your wonderful works.”
Often, Millennials are classified as an ungrateful and greedy generation.
Sometimes, I would agree with you. As human beings our sinful nature puts greed in our hearts and makes it hard to not constantly want the next best thing.
This is where I would love to clear up a misconception and address my generation at the same time.
First, I would like to clear things up a bit.
I think being thankful and respectful of older generations goes hand-in-hand.
In order to be respectful of someone older and wiser than yourself, I believe in some way you are thankful of the roads they’ve paved for future generations whether that be militarily, in the work force, at home and of course in the church.
This is one thing people my age sometimes miss, much to my disappointment.
We often think we were the first to ever think of a concept without taking into consideration the people who have come before us.
Millennials, take up your pride and respect our elders. They have lived long lives, most with trials and tribulations we may not experience in our lifetime.
Give them the respect and credit they are due, be thankful.
1 Corinthians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
On being thankful in general, I did not grow up having every single thing I ever wanted just handed to me. I also never went without anything I needed.
I did not have a job until I graduated high school, and for that I am grateful to my parents. They saw how working in high school didn’t give my older siblings the time they needed to dedicate themselves to their studies.
On that same note, when it was time for my twin sister and me to drive, because of past experience, my parents got my twin sister and me a nearly new car for peace of mind. To this day, eight years later, that car still runs like dream.
Some would say that is typical of a Millennial, and my parents were too soft on me or gave me too much, but I’ve never taken for granted the decisions they made, and credit graduating Valedictorian to my parents.
Once I got to college, my parents didn’t just write a check and tell me to go have fun. I have student loans, like most other Millennials.
Monthly, when I make those payments I’ll be making for the next five to 10 years, I am reminded at what a privileged life I get to live that I can pay my own way to school. I am thankful for my education and the job of which it prepared me.
On that note, as you give thanks this year, consider giving back to God, from whom all blessings flow.
2 Corinthians 9:10-11 says, “Now the One who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness, as you are enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.”
I will say, there were some people I knew in college whose parents did just write monthly checks and give them all the spending money they would ever need and more, and those peers of mine didn’t always value their education as much as I felt I did.
They are some of the Millennials you might see and scoff at or blame for the all of the world’s problems. But let me ask you before you go lumping us all into one general stereotype…
Do you remember being young? With age comes wisdom. You haven’t always been as wise as you are now. In fact, at one point in time you probably thought you were significantly wiser than you are today.
Was someone standing there chastising your entire generation because of that? Maybe there was. Be the generation that puts a stop to it.
I say all of this to say, some people have not been raised to expect hand-outs. For others, it is a way of life that the generation that raised us instilled into us as Millennials.
Patience is one of the best words I can think of when dealing with those not like yourself. Love is how the Lord did it.
So whether you’re a Millennial reading this, or you’re reading this because you think Millennials are too entitled, I encourage you to take a look within, but mostly I encourage you to be thankful for all the Lord has done for you.