Roots: Part I

Knowing where you are going is often so much more meaningful if you know where you've come from.  I am sure many of you wise sages have discovered this truth long ago.  I guess it isn't that I didn't know it; it's just that some truths become so much more real during certain phases of our lives.

As we prepare to relocate to another continent soon, we are taking the opportunity to visit our family as often as possible.  A few weeks ago we spent some time in Tennessee with Stephen's family.  We had a marvelous time.  One morning Stephen's mama (after cooking up a mean Southern breakfast made with love from scratch) took us to the Alex Haley Museum in the neighboring Henning, Tennessee.  Now, this is where I might lose some of you either because I am about to talk about history or because you are too young to know who Alex Haley is.  Hang with me.  Alex Haley, born in 1921, decided he would trace his own family heritage as far back as he could possibly go.  He ended up in Gambia, West Africa where his great, great, (not sure how many greats) grandfather, Kunta Kinte, was captured as a slave and brought to the United States. Yes, dear young ones, Kunta was played by Levar from Reading Rainbow and Geordi from Star Trek.  Mr. Haley eloquently wrote the well know and influential drama detailing his family's history.  He published his story in both the novel as well as the TV series, both entitled "Roots".  It is the story that mirrored so many Americans' history.  It captured the nation's attention and was at the top of the New York Times Best Sellers for months on end and was one of the most watched television shows in the late 1970's.

Stephen and I were fascinated by this man's story and thoroughly enjoyed our walk in his boyhood home and into history.  We were both sobered in a way.  I think like so many Americans, we watched Kunta Kinte's account unfold and remembered our own stories, feeling the need to pause and ponder our own sacred history.

The following day the Snell clan loaded up the suburban and drove down to Florence Alabama where Snell and Eley family roots run deep.  We were not going to miss this opportunity to spend the day at the Eley Family Reunion. There were enough hugs, laughs, stories, aunts uncles, great aunts and great uncles, cousins, second cousins, perhaps even third cousins, and Ryan's buffets to go around.  After the reunion we took a tour of the town as it was my first time to see Granny's house which was home to my father-in-law and his nine siblings growing up. It was also the place where Stephen  and the other grandkids have fond memories playing basketball and climbing up in tree forts.  But, most importantly, this is where the foundation of faith was laid for so many of Granny's children and grandchildren. The story of our own roots. 

So we had a wonderful weekend.  Stephen and I talked for a good long while on our drive home about our heritage and how thankful we are for both of our families and how we too hope to leave a mark on history just like Granny, Pawpaw, Maw, Papaw, Grandmother, Grandfather, Grandma, and Grandpa have for the two of us. We got home and back into the routine of life, laundry, work, Bible studies etc.  Then, last Monday night, I was sitting in my Bible Study Fellowship Lecture on Genesis, and our lecturer began with this quote:

“In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage- to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness.” 

― Alex Haley

I couldn't believe it!  If I had heard this quote just a few weeks before, I would not have batted an eye.  Monday night it brought me to tears.  It's true.  We do have a deep hunger to know who we truly are, where we came from, and for what purpose we are here.  The answer lies in the Words written by God through his servants Moses, David and many others.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...  God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness... " But, we disobeyed Him and grew away from Him.  Later he told Abraham, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing... and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Years later,  Jesus became the fulfillment of this blessing, reconciling the world to its Creator.  In turn, we are to bless our Creator with our lives.  He is our purpose.  He is why you and I are here.  He is where we came from and it is to Him that we long to go.  Knowing that our roots are imbedded deep in the Heart of our Creator gives meaning and purpose to the journey ahead.