The Weekly Parable

History on Flynn’s ancestors seemed hard to come by. For example, his grandfather had passed away before his great-grandfather, and Flynn’s own father couldn’t remember much about either of them. All the family had about Great-Grandfather was an early journal he had written. They enjoyed reading it, and they wished he had written more. They longed to learn more about his life and personality.

One day, Flynn’s father found a key in some old things with a tag bearing the name of a bank and a number. He gave Flynn the key in case he could track down what it was for. Flynn conducted some research on the Internet and traced the key to a bank in a distant city. He called the bank and was told that a safe deposit box with that number still held some items belonging to Flynn’s great-grandfather.

Suddenly excited, Flynn arranged for time off from work and took a flight to the city. He presented his identification to the bank personnel, who allowed him to open the box. Inside, Flynn found several journals full of his great-grandfather’s handwriting. With a building excitement, he closed the account with the bank and returned home with the journals.

Strange that his great-grandfather would have left his journals in a city that, to Flynn’s knowledge, he had never lived in. But as he read a note fixed to the inside of the first journal, it became clear. A schism had occurred in the family during Great-Grandfather’s life, and the other part of the family had wanted his journals for themselves, and Great-Grandfather worried that they wouldn’t take care of them and might even destroy them. He had wanted his journals preserved for his descendants, so he hid them and left the key behind where it could be found.

As Flynn and his family read these journals, they came to know Great-Grandfather in a new way. Their yearnings to understand more about him were satisfied, and their admiration for him grew. Flynn felt gratitude for his ancestor’s foresight and taking the necessary steps to preserve these books because now they and future generations could come to know him in a way they never could before.

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^{Image by Daniel Kirsch from Pixabay}

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