I grew up in a town so small that the sixties didn't get there until the seventies (actually it's where I still live). As a teen back there and then, friends would often ask me the probing question, "what it is?" I remember feeling stumped, and usually responded with a question of my own, "yeah, uh, what's happening?" We would then end the philosophical dialogue at the same time saying "cool."
It all happened quick.
Later in college I learned that the "what it is" question is such an important one that it has its own school of thought: "Ontology"-the study of being ("what it is"). "It" can be a pretty big subject. Really, it is.
Groovy.
Kids today continue to ponder the question "what it is." The response of "cool" has now been replaced by a statement that is far more cynical, "whatever." Who among us has not heard the juvenile response, "whatever," accompanied with a roll of the eyes and shrug of the shoulders, to some comment or request? I think "whatever" is a twenty-first century kid's response to a "sixties" kid question: "what it is . . ."
Not so groovy.
Leave "it" to the Apostle Paul to bring clarity to the discussion, with his "whatever" discourse in Colossians, saying, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus (3: 17a) . . . and "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart . . ." (3: 23).
Paul acknowledges that it is a problem knowing what it is (whether "it" is a career choice, a marriage partner, a calling, a medical diagnosis, and etc.) but goes on to say that in the mystery of whatever we can know "who" (". . . in the name of the Lord Jesus") and "why" ("work at it with all your heart"). In other words the answers to the "who" and "why" questions may have to suffice until we get to Heaven and know "what."
Many young adults today remain immature "adult-olescents." Why? They live in a world of options: so many colleges, majors, careers, potential partners, and etc., leading to "paralysis by analysis" and the response "whatever" to life's choices. Paul might counsel, "don't just sit there in your parent's basement, do "something" and do it for the Lord and work at it with all your heart."
The next time your teen responds, "whatever," finish the thought with "(whatever) it is do it for the Lord" and "do it with all your heart."
Blessings for a Sabbatical peace growing out of an understanding of the "Who" and the "why" in a vacuum of knowing "what"--
Pastor Tim
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