Generativity

As you’ll discover a little later in this journal entry, July has launched for my heart and soul a lot of reflection on the notion of generations and the life mission of generativity. The core definition reminds us that the word “generate” derives from the Greek genus and means to produce, bring into being, create. Synonyms are intriguing; prompt/induce/do/initiate!

Erikson first coined the term generativity in 1950 as part of his theory on the stages of psychological development. In his 7th stage, Erikson explains that this “task” roughly falls between the ages of 45-64—-although as he himself aged he believed generativity actually continues to play a very important role in later life as well. More recently, modern psychology has broadened the meaning of generativity to include an “inner desire for immortality, and a genuine concern to pass on a legacy.”

Why this near obcession with this word and its meaning this month? I will be 76 in November, one of my daughters turned 46 last Friday, her son (my first grandchild) turns 23 in August, and 3 weeks ago his wife gave birth to a perfect little baby girl: making my daughter a grandmother and me a great-grandmother! This birth created 4 living generations in our family and as the matriarch, I’m reckoning big time with questions like, “what have I passed on to my 3 daughters and my 5 grandchildren?” “What of those things will be remembered and will last?” “How much time will I have to impact this new little one?”

As a generative partner with our good God and my husband, “what have i brought into being?” Playing a bit with the synonyms I mentioned above, “what traditions and beliefs have I prompted?” “Have I induced a relationship with the divine in the hearts of my daughters and grandchildren?” “Have I initiated in them a desire to be good and just and on the side of the poor?”

Indeed, will the songs I’ve taught them, the seasons I’ve celebrated with them, and the stories I’ve read them yield a good harvest???

After I’ve gone, will they generate joy, intensely love music, plant gardens, and savor quiet time for themselves?

It is pure gift that I get to hold and rock and sing to a new little one, one who bears my name! What a blessing!!

My husband and I will celebrate 50 years of marriage come March. We started out just 2 of us and creating daughters, sons-in-law, grandchildren, siblings of a grandson’s wife they’ve “adopted”, and now a great granddaughter, we add up to 16 people!! We have, as partners with God, generated an extension of what we believe in along with the strong bond of love that has kept us together all these many seasons: 50 winters, springs, summers, and autumns!

Poem for July:

One Task

Cutting open a tomato from our garden tonight

I lose count of the seeds inside

Each one capable of generating a plant

Yielding many new tomatoes, each

with countless seeds of their own

On and on it goes

Such a tale of endless life

Could it be our life’s sole purpose too

Simply to begin the circle of possibility?

In thanksgiving for the safe arrival of Adalynn Christine………….