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November 24, 2005
That Which We Hold In Trust
“We hold all that we possess in trust for a future generation.” This, of course, we all know--intuitively perhaps or logically. The death rate is still close to 100% (the three examples that defy the perfect 100% are not statistically significant, although historically significant). Nonetheless, although we would all acknowledge the truth of this proposition, only the very aged or the very wise generally take time to reflect on it. Being neither, I do not spend much time dwelling on this fact. However, a recent even has caused me to reflect on it. Not, thank God, the passing of one close to me. Rather, in eight short weeks, I will no longer be the owner of the house in which my family currently dwells.
A family that lives five miles from us will take possession of this home--birthplace of all of our children and the home of 10 of the 14 years of our marriage. We will move to another home (or is it a home to be?) a few miles away.
Thus, all that is permanent (as permanent as something can be) in this home, I now hold in trust for another family--it really already belongs to them. I must preserve it as best I can for them, and yet we also must continue to live here and use these things that are no longer ours. As I looked at our (their) oven this evening, the reality of that hit me.
I wonder now if my paternal great, great grandfather, he who was born with the name Murphy (that my last name is Sides is one of those unique, and yet ubiquitously American, stories that may some other day be told), ever considered that all he possessed he really held in trust? I do not own any tangible thing that he owned. However, in a very literal sense, all that he could pass on to me, he did. I could not be without him. So, I wonder, when he left home, family and community in Louisiana in the early 1860s to fight for the "Yankees," did he ponder what that would mean for his future heirs? Did he consider that all he held, and all that he did, he really did for those who would come after him? I doubt it. And yet, of course, that is exactly what he did. He did not mean to make the future, and yet he did. One more small story wrapped up in the greater story of a nation still under construction.
And so, I now ponder, what will my great, great grandchild, who will likely not possess any physical thing that I now possess, think about when he is 37, and it is Thanksgiving, and his children are warm and sleeping in comfort with full bellies? Will he think of me? I tend to doubt it. However, I do hope that he will ponder the great story of this country in which he has the freedom (I hope) to ponder, and the opportunity to have children with full bellies. (A thing which many of my Irish forebears did not have the luxury of.)
I would hope that he would also ponder the greater meaning, and be thankful for more than just his temporary home, wherever it may be. Hopefully, if I have any legacy, it will be to pass on, not something tangible, but that which is truly lasting--the knowledge of the One who thought of us all, and Who provided for us all, and to Whom we owe all--the one whose tangible things we all possess in trust--those in the past, those in the present--and those in the future. It all belongs to Him. It is up to all of us to keep His trust. If we have anything to pass on, it is that knowledge.
Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless.
Posted by Mark at November 24, 2005 01:09 AM