2008-08-15 11:20:00
"Generations come and generations go" (Ecclesiastes 1:4).
We are in Nebraska for our 33rd annual Steincross family reunion. Throughout my childhood we gathered at my grandparents' house in Harwood Missouri, but I don't remember calling it a reunion. Following their deaths in the early seventies their children established the annual family reunion. Brooksyne attended the very first one the summer before we were married. Now only my Aunt Frances, the youngest Steincross child, remains from that generation. We will celebrate her upcoming 85th birthday Saturday evening.
Fourteen of the sixteen cousins (my grandparents' grandchildren) are here. We are now all over 50 and of course there are many from the succeeding generations as they are expecting around 70 to be in attendance.
I found this picture when going through my mom's belongings after she passed away three years ago. My mom is at the lower left in the photo, the second youngest child. Aunt Frances is on the other side in the front row.
Mom was 12 years old at the time this photo was taken in 1933. My grandpa was 51, about the same same age as I am now. A farmer and the president of the only bank in tiny Harwood Missouri; he was a vibrant, colorful man. As a young man he traveled across the west on rails and climbed Pike's Peak one night. On each birthday well into his eighties he rode a bike to assert his youth. I assume I get some of my personality traits from him. I sure hope so! My grandmother was a quiet woman but my spiritual heritage can be traced back to her and a little white framed church. They had 65 years of marriage as I recall.
"Generations come and generations go." A multi-generational family reunion especially underscores this. This last winter my Uncle Jim (Aunt Frances' husband) passed away after 63 years of marriage. Of course he is especially on our hearts this year - he never missed one reunion over the years. Just three years ago my mom went to her last reunion here on earth.
I sat across from Aunt Frances last night at dinner and tried to glean information about my heritage, especially my grandmother's side since she grew up in an area in Iowa west of Des Moines where we had passed through on the way here. She was the daughter of a pioneer. I understand she was Pennsylvania Dutch which means her parents may have come from the area I now live in.
There's a popular ad series that has the line, "Life comes at you fast." Actually looking at the photo sure underscores that life not only comes at you fast but goes by very fast as well. We all need to regularly examine ourselves and do a thorough check to see how we are living our lives. Most certainly "Generations come and generations go." A question that we should all consider is "How am I living today in light of eternity?"
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Lord, in the looking glass of Your Word, may the choices I make this day honor You and also honor my family name. I choose a good name above riches, prestige or fame. I pray that I would reflect the good character that comes from following Christ to my present generation and that it would be passed on to the generations that follow, for the glory and honor of Your Holy Name. Amen.
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