Trees and Fruit and Generations

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the passing of time, and what that means. I’ve always had an extraordinary sense of “eras” and “seasons;” intentional remembering has always been important to me.

Probably because we now live full-time in the same town as our son/wife and grandson/wife/their babies, I am acutely aware of “the generations.” (There are four now.)

My husband and myself with our son and daughter-in-law (far left) and our grandson and his wife and their son and daughter.

My husband with our daughter (2 days out from hip replacement!) and her husband and son.

(Not able to celebrate in-person Christmas with us this year, our granddaughter who is a missionary in Mexico and another granddaughter and her husband.)

Yes, we are so multi-generational now. How did this happen so quickly? See what I mean about the passing of time? Even for someone who is constantly aware of it, it’s still shocking how fast we got here!!

As a Christ-follower, I think about what these things mean for me— phrases come to mind, like…

Aging gracefully

Finishing well

Successful aging

Bearing fruit

Teaching the next generation

My Legacy

In today’s Bible study, I was looking at some relevant verses.

From Psalm 92:12-15:

12 The righteous thrive like a palm tree

and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.

13 Planted in the house of the Lord,

they thrive in the courts of our God.

14 They will still bear fruit in old age,

healthy and green,

15 to declare, “The Lord is just;

he is my rock,

and there is no unrighteousness in him.”

Then when I queried for the passage about “generations,” this came up in my search. After the passage is an article about that passage.

Psalm 78:1-8
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 
I will open my mouth in a parable;
    I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 
things that we have heard and known,
    that our fathers have told us.
4 
We will not hide them from their children,
    but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
    and the wonders that he has done.
5 
He established a testimony in Jacob
    and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
    to teach to their children,
6 
that the next generation might know them,
    the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7 
    so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
    but keep his commandments;
8

 and that they should not be like their fathers,
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast

 whose spirit was not faithful to God.

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#generations #aginggracefully #successfulaging #finishingwell #bearingfruit #legacy