Today I was racking my brain with what the Lord wanted me to
write about. For hours I thought about how rough my week was and how I had
prayed and prayed to have a solution to the problems that I had had this week
thinking that the blog post would be about perseverance or something like that.
I was sure that it would be about me me me…. I was wrong.
At church I was given the opportunity to have such great
speakers especially one missionary that spoke with such power and vigor that
the spirit couldn't be denied. I thought, ‘well this was great and now we are
done. There will be no need to have the other two lessons as this missionary
has summed it all.’ Again I was told by the Spirit, ‘you are not writing about
this’. Really? Wow! Then what?
I had a prompting on Saturday of the spirit of one of my ancestors
to go and start finding my father’s family. I went to the genealogy class today
and though that the work had already been done and there was nothing for me. I
was intrigued and loved the class and thought I’d take a moment to see the
website familysearch.org and I was certain that I would see the whole family.
Man I was wrong. There is a feature that shows all of your family in a circle
and half of it would be mom and the other would be dad; my dad’s half of the
pie was GONE! I knew that there was some members of the family that had done
the work and I could even recall from memory my dad’s genealogy up to the fifth
generation but on this website it didn't exist.
As I listened to the class, I head how you could put photos and
stories of your family in the site and I realized that my family story had only
half been told. The stories of the roofer that had raised a family in PA or the
German soldier from WW1 that had left his home country to raise his children in
the States only to be a soldier of WW2 was not told. These and several more had
never been told and their songs never sung except in my home.
Such anticipation and excitement changed my view of how I
was going to tell my story and show that there was more than a story of a
simple coal roofer’s grandson who took time to recreate his history for all to
see. I know that I have had a great story. The shock and surprise that I can
create in story and fable is, in fact, what genealogy is all about. My son asks
me about the stories of our family and what he has accomplished. He wants to know
of the metals and honors that men have given to our fathers and mothers; he
wants the stories of their courage and tenacity; he wants their greatness to rub
off on him. I’m no soldier; I am a son and great-grandson of one. I’m no roofer
but I am a grandson of one. My mother’s family already knew the importance of
the stories of the family and created a book (about 300 pages) of the family
that she came from and I need to see if I can do the same with what my father’s
family has done.
What does that mean for you? Do you remember what Uncle Owen
told Luke? He told his nephew that his father was a miner on a space frigate; turns
out that the secrets were always there if he let the Force guide him. Are we
letting the Spirit guide us and show us the secrets and great discoveries that
await us or are we hoping that the spirits of our fathers, mothers, uncles and
aunts, no matter how far away they are from us be lost or forgotten because of
our negligence. I thought myself the
matter closed but no longer. I aim to do some work so that they will not be
lost. Please do the same.
Image is from here.
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