Children of a Lesser God

Children of a Lesser God


For the offspring of a science deity, the legacy is more burden than blessing.

by Michele Zackheim

Cults of historians, scientists, and everyday people persist in idolizing Albert Einstein. For his family, though, the name Einstein has cast a long, complicated, and difficult shadow. Today the two living grandchildren and five living great-grandchildren are weary of being hounded by Einstein worshippers and weary of trying to live up to the unprecedented achievements of their ancestor. They struggle to live private lives, well distanced from his fame, and they have succeeded: The most notable aspect of the Einstein descendants is how nearly invisible they are.

Even in anonymity, though, there is no escaping the family legacy. Albert Einstein, a man of remarkable insights, was also a man of many serious flaws. His quixotic behavior and strained personal relationships loom menacingly over his descendants. Today the Einsteins are a fractured family. [read more...]

Very thought-provoking... a lot of people regard Einstein as a great, great man.... but in God's eyes, what does He consider as true greatness?

1. Psalm 37:25
   I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.
   
   
2. Psalm 103:17
   But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-
   
   
3. Proverbs 13:22
   A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.
   
   
4. Proverbs 20:7
   The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.
   
   

What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind when you die?

C.S. Lewis observed that in one of Shakespeare's plays, the main characters take up most of the plot, but their lines are rotten, filled with deceit, betrayal and murder. In comparison, there is a minor character with only one line - and he is an unnamed servant.

But what a line! When he witnesses the main characters mocking, shaming and ganging up upon his betrayed master, he will not stand for such injustice. He takes out his sword, jumps in to defend his lord, and is instantly stabbed to death. But that unnamed servant will forever stand out among his corrupt contemporaries for that one sole act of courage.

How it is with our own lives too. Our lives may be very ordinary and we may not be superheroes. Never mind. The true legacy of one's life is not what it has attained for itself, but rather, what it leaves behind in others.

As someone said, "One can tell the size of a ship by the kind of wake it leaves behind."