I have often heard people say things like, “Maybe I was born into the wrong era…”
Growing up, I had also thought that this was the case for me. My musical taste ranges from the 60’s to the 80’s, and I had been so jealous of all the people who had gone to the infamous, Woodstock Festival. I was born nearly 30 years late, but it had still made a huge impact in my life.
But then again, I thought to myself, was I really born into the wrong era?
How dare I question the timing that the Lord has set for my life to be lived? I was being ungrateful, impatient, and such an all-around annoying person. This was not a very Christlike thing to do, and I had been doing it. I retraced my steps, and looked deep down and thought real hard into the era that I was destined to be born into.
I am a ‘millennial’, and a ’90’s baby’. Growing up in the 90’s and the early 00’s had its up’s and down’s, for sure. I think that we were the last generation to have had a normal childhood. We got to play outside, enjoyed the outdoors, and just have a normal upbringing. But we were also the generation that saw how technology has evolved from the tiniest ideas from the minds of people such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, to becoming multi-million companies. There had been such a shift in the tech scene. One day, people just started using computers, mobile phones, and tablets. Am I not grateful that I get to witness this, and just live in this progressive era?
Had I been born in my favourite era, the 70’s, my life—especially my life as a woman, would have been super limited. Yes, I would have gotten to see Janis Joplin, then what? Women had no rights at all during that time. If you were a woman, you had no right to be heard. In that time, women had no seat at the table. I really do not think that I could live in an era such as that one. To exist in a state with people whose ways of thinking are so backwards, that I simply cannot do. But to be fair, the 70’s was the era that woke women up with their feminism. That, I would have loved to have witness.
I had heard a girl said one time, “I wish I had been born in the 20’s. They had such beautiful fashion.”
You want to be born in the 20’s so you could wear flapper dresses? Then what? You want to grow up during the Great Depression, see two world wars, and probably starve to death? But go ahead, wear and dream of flapper dresses all you want. I know I am good with the era that I am born into.
I remembered this movie I saw one time called, ‘Midnight in Paris’, by Woody Allen. Spoiler alert, but the characters in that particular movie had the chance to go back to the era in which they have wanted to live. Great, but it could be lonely, if you ask me. Yes, you get to live in your dream era, but everything else that you know about also vanishes. I can never give up my life like that.
We were born into our particular era for a particular reason. God did not make a mistake, believe me when I tell you that. We are all here because we have a purpose to serve, a life long mission to do. Now all we have to do is find out what it is.
Yesterday, I got to go to Woodstock with a few friends. Contrary to popular belief, the actual festival was not held hear. It was held at a nearby town called Bethel, but there was something special about just being there. I have always pictured myself walking those streets barefoot, humming to a melody, and dancing like the trees. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do just that. Imagining myself back in 1969, oh, it was a dream. It was like as if I was in a trance. Singing along to Janis Joplin on my phone, I closed my eyes and dreamed. In that moment, I was grateful. I know that my dream had been fulfilled, and it was more than enough.
Going back to reality was not hard, but we always have to strive to live our best lives no matter what. It does not matter where we are, or what era we were born into. All we have to do is be grateful, and never question the timing of the Lord. He knows what He is doing. He always does. Do you? Trust in Him. All will be well.
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1 John 2:1-2 NIV
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