I was named after my father, whom I remember seeing once before his death. I was five years of age. His influence on me comes only from my responses to the few stories I heard about him. My father became only a cipher in my life mostly in negative pattern related to the circumstances he left to my mother in the short period they were together before his nearly five years of decline to death caused by tuberculosis. The story is one of sadness, and my mother’s effort to keep and maintain her children, becomes a story of the determination of a person who refused to accept the outrageous fortune that can be dealt to imperfect persons in an imperfect society functioning in an imperfect world.
My wife wanted to name our first son after me, so it was done. And, he named his first son with the same name, and that son named his son with the name. There are four persons in our town, at this writing, with that name. I am engaged with the youngest in planning his college program that will begin fully a year from this writing. He will go to the college from which I graduated with an initial degree, with his to be received exactly seventy years after mine. In the privacy of my own thoughts I am working on features to make his experiences in higher education better than mine – and mine were very good for me. This includes everything from mentoring; to providing assistance; to sharing experiences; to maintaining contact for issues initiated from him; to developing context toward success in the objectives of his life; and, to prayer that he will maintain a life modeled for him in Jesus Christ, and those he most admires in making a life. What a life that portends for the future, in choices he can make, and disciplines to follow. He will have the support of the living generational families that preceded him. His testing results are as good as mine were, perhaps better. His faith quotient and knowledge of Christian life are ahead of mine at his age. His grades, at this stage, are improved over mine at the same juncture. In high school he is already taking substantive college courses, so will launch his college career at a deeper end of the pool. He is open to learning, and takes an attitude appropriate to a young person seeking to become knowledgeable, mature, and directed toward a life of service in the areas of his preference. He warms the heart of his great- grandfather. (This will be the last of the mentoring efforts of my life. I yearn to live to finish it.)
How do families gain the raw material of their children so to offer so great potential for the future, as I feel in the life of this young man? (And, I could choose examples from each of the generations in our family, but I am focusing currently.) The first cause comes from the grace of God. God gives us our children, and we need to form the most of these gifts. Our part is to recognize what he has awarded us, and make the most of that context. For example, if I were given a Down’s syndrome child, I would do what is best for the development of that child in the context of his or her life. It all begins with proper nurturing, requiring time and serious exchange generated from the family. For the child that is given love shown in sensitive identification, relating to reality of context, keeping lesser motivations in place, going for effectiveness in the life given to each person, there will be success in the meaning God would give, and a feeling of fulfillment for the persons involved. Young generations may be more harmed by wrong motivation in elders than in the fires of their own passions, and preoccupation with self-seeking peer acceptance. The accent of money, often a parental value; of popularity, often for self-image; of power, often seen in admiration of athletic prowess; of distractions that may be carnal, often as growing up gestures; of bizarre styles, often a part of generational acceptance – all contribute to reduction in constructive schedule and attitude formation in the transition. Rigor in preparation is in order. Here is high place of knowledge for understanding and wisdom. The effort takes time, requires mutuality and humility, and discovers talent that would not likely be found without assistance, or would be found too late to be fully active for lifetime achievement. In this is a sense of creativity, worth and God – and the time it takes.
*During days of editing Pages, I came across this one on May 15, 2016 with a yearning in reading it to offer what has happened in the five years since it was written in 2011. To my utter surprise I found that several lines remained on the Page, – unique oversight for me. My great-grandson graduated from college this week, with magna cum laude honors. His wife also had honors. He begins an appointment near here related to a project for the advancement of youth, and his wife hired to begin teaching in a public elementary school in a neighboring town. The purpose of God that they live and plan well appears, in my perception, to be under way. They are in quite early “twenties” of the years of their lives. Thanks, God. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020