Estimated reading time: 5 minute(s)
If you’ll permit me here, I felt compelled to post something of a more personal (and highly subjective) nature tonight.
There is some greatness in our son, Alex. I’m almost certain I could not point to a specific event or events, nor any one particular attribute or quality of his character or personality just yet to support that claim, but I can just sense that it is true.
(His name does, after all, mean “Defender of Mankind”…)
Of course, I do feel that I can see the greatness in each of our children—what parent doesn’t? There is just something beyond that, some uniqueness that I feel will at some point in his life—whether sooner or later, I don’t know—distance him from his peers.
I was noticing it in particular these past couple days for some reason, and just wanted to write it down. Perhaps some day we’ll look back on this and smile that “even when he was only eight, we could see it!” The way he can instantly engender himself to any person he meets. The many physical talents he has, and the passion and joy with which he pursues them. The mental clarity he also possesses. (Sometimes that gets overlooked as his older brother, Ian, was blessed with an astonishing photographic memory—even “photographic” aurally, and really, using any of the senses!)
Alexander Caedon Campbell may one day be a name you hear mentioned along with other great names, or, in any of its possible iterations: Alex Campbell, Alexander Campbell, A. Caedon Campbell, A. C. Campbell, etc. One can never know such a futuristic thing with certainty, but seeing the faint (and sometimes not-so-faint) glimmer of it in the very young Alexander, we shall endeavor to do all that we can as his parents to prepare him for that greatness.
And wait eagerly to see what Greatness will occur around and through him.
Photo Credit: Lindsay Karl (Thanks, Lindsay!)
I wish my Jacob (almost 8) and your Alexander could meet. As Jacob is also destined for greatness, imagine the good they could do in the world. Give Aubrey a squeeze for me!
It looks like I got you confused with another Greg I know. Do you know Greg Hannig? The reason I ask is that his wife, Aubrey, is the one who invited me to look at your blog.
Hi, Kim. Absolutely! The Hannigs have become good friends of ours, and it is funny when we are together because both wives will summon their respective Gregs with varying degrees of confusion…. 🙂
Re: your Jacob, that’s really neat that you can see that, too. I’m a bit surprised, actually, every time I notice it/think it about Alex, because truly, all of our kids exhibit some form of “greatness” (and I’m certain that every (caring) parent sees something of that in each of their children) but it sounds like you see in Jacob that “something more” that I see in Alex. Will be so interesting to see what God has in store for him, and how he responds to it. (And sounds like, the same for Jacob!)
Thanks for reading, and, not sure I’ll “squeeze” Aubrey, but I’ll give her a hug on your behalf next time we see her 🙂