We Are The "Now" and The "Next" Generation

My Grandsons...My Heart Overflows

No matter what you are doing in life, there is always a "next" generation rising up.  This "next" generation will have ideas, strengths, changes, dreams...they will possess qualities that will probably exceed your expectations, taking your dreams into a whole new place.  Just like when you were the "next" generation, they will see things a little differently than you do.  

This is not a new concept.  This is not a new revelation, it is a fact and common to man.  It is also, not a bad reflection on how you did things.  It is a compliment that your leadership or abilities built the foundation for the next step.  It is a great thing.  

The Season of Wonder

When we put our ego's aside, we can see the beauty of progress and change.  Progress and change can be painful if we are being pulled into two directions. Holding so firmly onto the "way it has always been done" while trying to move into the now and the future.  It's like you are being pulled apart.  

God never intended it to be this way.  He is always raising up a "Next" generation to continue and build on the hearts desire of the "Now" generation.  It's a beautiful thing.  When the "Now" generation shares their heart with the right person for the job, it can be magic.  It becomes a holy ground experience.  The flame the would consume some becomes a light and calling for the right person.  As the "Now" generation, we have to be willing to train and pour into those coming up, so that our vision will not only continue but expand it's territories.  

The Birth of the Future...
We are all part of it.

Age is not a factor in the "next" generation equation. Willingness to answer the call, waiting on the timing of the LORD, training for task, getting to know the heart of the foundation builders...etc., these are the qualifications to be part of the "next" generation. Changes, new conquests, new goals, expanded visions...it is a life long quest.  No matter your age, you are the "next" generation to someone or something.  

I am in a season of wonder right now.  According to the book Seasons of Your Heart by Macrina Wiederkehr, when we are in the season of wonder, we should...

*take off our shoes*investigate burning bushes*give up false gods*peel off layers of ego*take down walls of separation*strip away the unnecessary*wait with patience*say good-bye so the Spirit can come*remove all obstacles to wonder*walk barefoot in creek beds delighted and unafraid.

The author says, "If you should ever hear God speaking to you from a burning bush, and it happens more often than most of us realize, take off your shoes for the ground on which you stand is holy." 

As I write this, I am reminded that most of our lives we are part of the "Now" generation and the "Next" generation at the same time.  

So as we dream, we work...as we plan, we build...as we learn, we teach. It is what makes life continue and then what we build never crumbles and our dreams never die.  

Investing in the future

Look around you, embrace the "Next" generation, teach them, love them, guide them, pour into their lives.  Pass on the anointing and pray that God puts a double portion on their lives.