Let’s imagine! You are invited to have lunch with friends at noon next Monday at a local restaurant. Since your car will be in the shop, someone has agreed to pick you up around 11:30. The time comes and goes while you wait anxiously by the door. At 4:00, you discover that the meeting did occur as planned, but you were forgotten. There is nothing quite like being forgotten; it engenders a whole gamut of emotion. What could be worse?
In June of 2009 my granddaughter was born. Her father (my son) was 25 years old; I was 50, and my father was 75. Together, we represent four generations, exactly twenty five years apart. About that same time someone asked, “Did you know that after you die, you will be forgotten in two generations?” The question troubled me; the idea seemed cruel somehow. Could it be true? I mused.
With only one exception, my great grandparents died before I was born. Though I remember seeing my great grandmother a few times, I was not old enough to really know her before she died. It is true then, even my own great grandparents are all but forgotten. To be appreciably influenced by great grandparents, or even to remember them well, is the exception rather than the rule.
Life is very brief, and our existence will effect relatively few people in the vast expanse of time. Most of us, like our predecessors, will be forgotten in two generations. But wouldn’t it be great if we could make a difference that lasts longer than life, be remembered by our great grandchildren, make a mark on this world that would effect generations to come, influence the lives of others in ways that would matter to them beyond their lives here on earth.
C. T. Studd (1860-1931) was a missionary to China, India and Africa. He put it all in perspective when he wrote, “Only one life ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” The fact that I am quoting him so many years later, may be an initial evidence that he was right.