Lately I have been amazed that the world is taking an accelerated interest in finding their ancestors. This is evidenced in the recent televsion productions on PBS's 'Faces of America" and NBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?" The premise of these shows is that professional geneologist research is done for celebrities and then the Geneology or stories of the celebrities past is presented to them on television. I have been interested and spell bound in a few episodes of Faces of America as I watched Oprah and Mario Batalli learn about their ancestory and how those relatives had similar interests and personality traits and even work interests. As they learn that their careers and even their charities are interests passed down through family lines, thier eyes light up and they become emotional as they finally meet their family and in turn learn more about who they are themselves. This week others like Susan Sarandon will be portrayed as they are presented and assisted in finding out their history and family members of the past on the NBC show Friday night.
The interesting thing to me is that celebrities and other people are just now getting interested in who they are and where they come from. What is this new phenom and why the sudden interest in researching one's relatives. Is it just a passing fad or the newest craze that will pass with time? I don't think so. I think the world is finally coming to understand what is important; thier family! I also believe that spirits from people who have passed away call to us to find them and make records and take that even further - - which I will explain at the end of this blog.
Finding ancestors, doing family history and writing our own personal history is not new to me or to the members of the church I attend (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints.) Not only that we have been encouraged since we were children to write in a journal and create our own personal history, our church has the largest Geneological Library in the entire world right here in Salt Lake City where anyone in the world can come to learn more about their family ancestry. Our churh has presented family histories to all of the recent Presidents of the United States.
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/57628/Obama-family-history-presented-to-US-chief.html
The reason we seek out our ancestors is because ultimately we all want to know who helped us begin our own lives. We are all family and were family before we were born. We all have ties back to Adam and we are brothers and sisters who belong to the same family. It is no surprise that people are wanting to know how they are tied together into family lines. Who we are, what we do, what we enjoy doing is tied to someone in our past who had those same traits and passed them on to us. Family research can help us find someone from our family's past who is probably very similar to us in many respects.
So now we ask, what do we do with the knowledge of our ancestory once we have it? There's the question that is most important. We record it, we treasure it, we share it with others; but is that all? No, there is something else we can do. Our Ancestors who have passed away before us wait for us and even prompt us to find them for a specific reason. They are the ones who are speaking to us "from the dust" so to speak. They want to be found and then there is something else they wait for us to do for them. What is that act of service they are waiting for? For the answer to that question and others regarding families and extended families visit www.mormon.org. You will be amazed and hopefully encouraged even further to find your past.
Note - I have filled several journals in my life and recently purchased another journal. In that journal I have created a time-line of my life and plan to not only make brief daily entries but also stories about experiences in my life that I feel would be of interest to my children and their children so they can know me without having to search to learn about me.
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