The Circle of Life and the Importance of Lineage

I recently became a grandmother.  Our first grandchild was born January 31, 2012 but I didn’t get to meet her until March 24, 2012; the reason being that my daughter and her husband live in Germany.  We had seen the baby many times in photos and even skyped with my daughter.

On the morning of my arrival in Frankfurt, I was greeted by my daughter and Tiffanie at the airport.  She had packed the baby in the stroller and proudly presented the sleeping bundle of joy to me.  It was a moving reunion.  Later on, at the apartment I was able to hold the baby and get to know her over the next couple of weeks.

Often my thoughts went back to the time when I first held my daughter in my arms.  How I had been worried if I was to recognize the baby if they suddenly brought me a different infant.  Looking at Tiffanie I could certainly see similarities between her and her mother and detected the little dimple and round cheeks from her daddy.  Again, I couldn’t help myself thinking do all babies look alike? - Maybe when they first come out of the womb slimly and bloody; looking like Idaho potatoes.  Certainly they all have the same needs from the minute they are born: air, food, change of diaper, sleep, warmth etc.  Most of all a babies need love and attention.  What about those babies who don’t get their needs met and cry for hours or even those who are abused in one way or the other? 

In many cultures it is important to have a son first, einen Stammhalter (son and heir of the tribe).  How many girls have been rejected, abused or in recent years aborted because they were not the expected son.  Or in China where traditionally only one child was allowed and the girls were put into orphanages?

I became so grateful for this little girl being born into my lineage, well cared for and loved.  It’s amazing what goes through one’s mind rocking a baby to sleep.

I am also so thankful to the teachings of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.  Before studying his teaching, the Divine Principle, I had no hope to give birth to children.  I had no hope for my own life and in the future.  Over the years I came to understand the importance of children and how we can extent our life into a lineage.  More than that, we can experience the four realms of love which are parental love, siblings love, spousal love and children's love; they can only be learned within the family.

4 generations

In his seventh Peace Message, page 3, Rev. Moon talks about the importance of lineage.

 “Do you know what has pained God’s heart most, causing Him the greatest grief during the long history since the Fall of Adam and Eve? God lost His lineage, and with that, God lost the basis of human brotherhood and even His ownership over the creation. God’s lineage is more precious than life itself. Without it, the fruits of true life and true love never matured. They became instead the fruits of Satan, lacking any relationship with Heaven. From them descended the 6.5 billion people now populating the earth.”

~ Dr. Sun Myung Moon, GOD’S IDEAL FAMILY AND THE KINGDOM OF THE PEACEFUL, IDEAL WORLD - August 31, 2006.

The circle of life can only be closed when we experience the different stages of life: childhood, youth, brother-sister hood, adulthood, marriage, parenthood, grandparenthood, etc. which contain all the various relationships possible on the vertical and horizontal plane.  Once we can also include appreciation of our ancestors and all those who came before us and provided the advances and accomplishments of modern society we truly become part of the "circle of life" and can be proud of it.