Our Family Story

Over the last 10 years I have worked on recording my family history. The work includes many family stories. It is my hope that future generations will look at the book and remember who they are. Notice, I did not say “Who we were”, I said “Who they are”.

We discover ourselves in the past not in the future. Our ancestors speak to us if we listen. How I act today is a direct result of knowing my ancestor’s legacy. I discover my future by knowing my past.
Aquinas and other mystics had this idea that our Spiritual root, our Spiritual DNA, is hidden as the result of neglect but mostly due to sin. Something cataclysmic happened eons ago that caused humanity to forget who they are. Becoming “Saved” as our denominational brothers and sisters put it or having this “Spiritual Awakening” is the result of suddenly becoming aware of your spiritual family tree down to the core of your being.
I’m not talking about head knowledge here. I’m talking about something much deeper.

Since the beginning God has been at work trying to remind us of our divine root. He is the Father that unceasingly tries to tell us the family story.  Jesus is the bridge, that connection point, who tells us about our heritage and where we belong. During his three years of ministry Christ was trying to jar our spiritual memory by communicating that story to us. Our connection to God is hidden under the layers of self, but that connectedness reveals itself if we are intuitive enough to see it.

For example, whenever a person makes a particular choice - whether it is the trivial decision to see this movie rather than that or a significant decision involving career - he or she is, says Thomas, implicitly desiring ultimate happiness. All of our acts of the will rest upon, depend upon, the final and all-embracing desire for good itself which is none other than God. Our search for good is none other than a search for God himself….. Under the hood of our DNA is our rootedness to our Father. You are closer to Him than you know.
In deciding to paint, the artist is seeking the ultimate good to paint. The artist seeks to inspire. In choosing a particular case the lawyer is motivated (At least ideally) by the love for the value of justice. To be alive we must give ourselves to the good and be conformed to it. Authentic freedom for the human will consists, paradoxically, in enslaving itself to God of whom Jesus said is the only “Good”.

What I am saying is, when we seek justice, inspiration, or good in any form we are, in actuality, seeking God. Our pursuit of it is sometimes misguided though. Our search for good, as being a search for God, is hardwired into our DNA.

Restlessness is another one of those human things that reveal our divine rootedness to God. The most famous and most quoted non-biblical source is from Augustine. In his Book Confessions he wrote, “Because you have made us for Yourself, our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.
The first part is the objective fact, that God has made us for himself. The second is the personal experience, I am restless until I find him in my life, until I make a real connection.

There is an indelible link between restlessness and God making us for himself. Because we are made for God we cannot find lasting peace apart from him. All of man’s restless searches are a result of him or her trying to fill the void with lesser pursuits and lesser things. Sadly, man often gets lost in the muck of self and life, oftentimes settling for things that are far below the permanence of God, thinking he or she has found the ultimate good only to find that the restlessness reappears.

The good we seek, the restlessness we often experience, is none other than our spiritual DNA, our spiritual root, speaking to us if we’ll listen. These are connection points to our Father telling us about our spritual rootedness. 

Be sensitive to your feelings and our proud family history and let our Father tell you who and whose you are.  We have a great Family Tree.