Leaning on the Door Jamb of Life

Have you ever just leaned on the door jamb of life and watched your kids and the talents they have or are developing and wondered where they came from? I don't mean the obvious answer. We all know the Lord bestows upon us various talents and gifts. That is a given. But, I'm talking about the human part of the process.

I have been "leaning" a lot lately and pondering those very thoughts.

I look at my children and grandchildren and observe those things they have an interest in and do. And I wonder. . . . . who and where did that come from, exactly?

There is singing, and cooking, and scrap booking, and sports, and building, and sewing, and art, and fishing, and reading, and writing, and on and on and on. The talents intertwine from family to family and generation to generation. I see this when someone wants to sew. Or when someone puts together a beautiful scrap booking page or card. Or when I hear a hammer or drill or saw. Or when I hear the harmonious voices that only siblings can share.

They say the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. I think it's even deeper than that. I think those little sucker roots that run just beneath the ground surface feet or yards or even miles away.
They sprout up replicas of the "first generation tree". Quite unexpectedly these saplings appear and to my amazement remind me of my past. How can it be that I am staring into the future and the past at the same time? How is it I can connect one with the other just as easily as connecting the dots? I believe it is something stronger than a notion - it's a deep desire to keep the past alive in the present for the future.

It makes me weepy with nostalgia to think one's heritage is but a glance away - that the things I long for from my youth are manifesting in front of me as I grow older. No - I can't go back. I don't want to. But. . . . I can, and will, take comfort in these things as they blossom in front of me. They are what talk to my soul. That these gifts and talents have coursed not only thru my blood, but the blood of my ancestors, to the ones I love most, is more than I can handle at times.

And so it goes - that huge, strong tree has produced many saplings down the line. And for that, I am grateful.