A Chain of 4

Family. Everything always seems to come back to family. I think anyone who ever heard the example of 2 + 2 = 3 thought it was erroneous--a little over the top. I know I always did. I understood the hyberbole and it's analogy, but still I found it hard to really relate such an absurd conclusion to real life. No outcome is really ever that off track.

That's what I thought.

Here's what I know now. 2 + 2 = 3 is not close enough to the reality of present day human thought. Or maybe the problem is that there is more and more of physical impulse and less and less of thought. The prevalence of sex in the world has little to do with thought and a lot to do with unchecked physical desire. I could say the same for a lot of the sorry things in which we as humans participate. In any case, 2 + 2 = 0 seems to be much closer to the reality of things now than I ever thought possible, and it all comes back to the family.
Paul Simon misspoke ages ago when he chimed out "I am a rock, I am an island." Nothing could be further from truth. No man is a rock. No man is an island. Even the great virgin birth, Jesus Christ himself, had both mother and father. It might be added that he also had surrogate father, brothers, sisters, ancestors and likely other descendants that have survived him from his mother and step-father. We are all connected and it's a marvelous thing and it's marvelously overlooked.
Do you realize that you can trace your life back, and that you can do it further and further and ultimately guess what? If it were possible you'd run right into Noah and his ark. Beyond that you'd run into Adam and Eve. Beyond Adam and Eve . . . well you can imagine. What a noble heritage is the inheritance of every person walking this earth. But few care. I hope if you're reading this that you care.
I hope you're doing what you can to contribute to the line that you came from. I hope you're doing what you can to contribute to the line of people that are going to come after you. Unless you're one of those I referred to as getting 0 from 2 + 2.
The world is stripping more and more importance from families and more and more importance from children. That's an entirely separate story. I just want to gently remind everyone that 2 + 2 = 4. That nothing comes after us unless we contribute more than the works of our hands. Also, we would not be had it not been for ages and ages of contributors before us. Maybe some don't like their parents. Or grandparents, but traced back far enough everyone comes from royal stock. Everyone is a son or daughter of God. Everyone is a descendent of someone else who hoped that they had left something of value to this world. Could you be that something of value? Are you living your life in such a way to honor that family before you and to prepare for the family to come after you?
A little more pointedly, before anyone claims that they are a rock or an island, how much do you know about those who came before you? I am so compelled to family history research. I cannot really explain it, but it is something real that wells up in your heart and in your stomach and won't let you rest. It cries out that you are the result of great works with great potential ahead of you. We don't carry on last names just because it's quaint, but because a name and a heritage used to and should still mean something. Seek to find out where you came from and then begin to understand who you really are. Understand that nothing is more intrical to life than families. If not for families, the earth would be barren. A vacant paradise. We're each the next most important link in this chain, and it's important both to be a strong link, but also to come to know the chain to which we're attached.