Passing On...

               A few days ago our family and friends gathered to celebrate the life of a remarkable woman, my Aunt Alvena, who was married to my dad’s brother.  Even though she was 94, her death came unexpectedly because she was still living independently in the country, driving her car to and from town, and enjoying life in general.  So when I heard the news of her death, I was deeply saddened but thankful that she had led a long and meaningful life.

               With the passing of Aunt Alvena came the realization that our faithful, strong, hard-working older generation was leaving us.  In fact, only three aunts remain in that older generation on my side of the family. Soon, my generation will be the “older” one, and that was a humbling thought.  Perhaps my daughter Haley expressed it best when through our tears, she said she felt like “a stranger… that everyone in that generation we looked up to was leaving us.”  We had depended on their strength, their security, their love and their faith to lean on and embrace. Now they were gone.

               On the drive home I silently reminisced as well as reflected on the day’s events.  I couldn’t help but be drawn to an appreciation of what my grandparents, my parents, my aunts and uncles and other extended family members had taught me. Theirs was a life filled with commitment, dedication, loyalty, and a strong work ethic. BUT one aspect of their lives stood out above the rest…their reliance upon God.  Their testimonies of God were not a rip-roaring, showy outburst of words but a quiet, steady dependence upon “the Man upstairs” as my dad referred to Him at times. They shared their faith and trust in God through their everyday life encounters as well as in their service to the church. Many were Sunday school teachers, leaders in church business affairs, Bible study leaders and participants, Ladies Aide ministries, and choir members. This service was part of their lives, no questions asked.

   Of course, laughter and joyful celebrations occurred along with hardships and overwhelming challenges, but they persevered and endured whatever life tossed them. They were a responsible Christian generation, and whether they realized it or not, they were shaping my generation to pass on to the next generation how they had lived. As Ecclesiastes 1:4 states, “One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever.”

               Now, it’s my generation’s turn, duty, and responsibility to “pass on” the values of leading a Christian life:  to be faithful to our commitment to God and His Son, to persevere when life’s pressures overrun us, to be bold in our Christian witness, and to place our trust in the hope we have through our Savior Jesus Christ that someday all generations of believers will be together forever.  Finally, my hope is that my generation will be admired and respected as much as what we admired and respected those family and friends before us.  Praise be to God, the Father of all generations.

“Give ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

We will not hide them from their children,

Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,

And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done."  Psalm 78:1-4