Personal goals, career goals, community goals. We all make them. But what about longer lasting and more far-reaching goals? Goals that touch the next generation? And the one after that?
Recently we remembered my late grandmother’s birthday. Born in 1900 as the youngest of nine children, she often told us stories about her adventurous childhood. How her father would put real candles on the Christmas tree and how she had heard that America had streets of gold.
When she turned 18, a worldwide plague took her mother, sister, niece, and other family members. This one event shaped her into a singularly focused pillar of strength. From that moment on, life for her was only about family, which is why we were at the center of her universe.
Today I look around and still see glimpses of her pass by. In my family’s loving texts, when my brother makes me laugh, and in my daughter’s gentleness, Grandma is still here.
When we share a kindness, love moves forward to the next generation. If we show compassion today, the ripple effect of that one gesture can still be seen fifty years from now in the eyes of another soul.
This truth makes life eternal both in heaven and on the earth.
Our influence never leaves. It is never erased.
As we pass through, the world is changed forever.
The ripple is lasting. Our impact, indelible.
Let us make our mark thoughtfully each day, remembering that kindness and compassion live forever.
How Young Children Learn 