This Generation

My heart breaks for this generation. For the things they have to endure. For the challenges that face them. For the temptations around them. For the heartbreak they feel. For the wounds from absent parents. For the heartache from life gone awry. For being forced to grow up too fast. I am just one person. How did all of these amazing, beautiful children end up in my life as young adults, wounded, scarred, and hurting? Trying to make it in life, clueless as to where they're going.

My heart grieves for them. For the childhood they never got to experience. For the burdens placed on their frail shoulders at a much too young age. For seeing things they were never meant to see and experiencing things they were never meant to taste. I am just one person. I'm not sure my heart can handle hearing any more. And yet they keep coming, and pouring out the pain behind a veil of aloofness and indifference. Wishing someone would hear beyond their vague words and see behind the smokescreen of protection.

My heart aches for the truth they do not know. For the lies they have believed. For the destinies that are sitting on the sidelines of self-sufficiency, in bondage to the after-effects of a chaotic childhood. To scared to take a risk, to wounded to become vulnerable. But they can't keep it in any longer. It spills over and the pain leaks out. They try to manage it and contain it, but once the floodgate is open they can no longer bring back the tidal wave. I am just one person. But I refuse to sit behind apathy and indifference and pretend like it's all ok.

My heart groans for the precious lives that think they don't matter. For the ones just aching to be noticed. To be told they are special and important. They act out and we judge them. The speak out and we condemn them. They reach out and we pretend like we can't see them. This is the next generation, our hope and our future. Lost, broken, captive. If you listen close enough, you can hear them crying out. Our own iniquity has put them in a battle too big for them to fight alone. I am just one person. But if my heart breaks and yours does too, what will we do? When will we stop, see, hear and notice? And when will we respond with love, grace, kindness and mercy? Rise up, my friend, and reach out. There is one out there that needs you.