In Scotland, everyone knows the name. It stands for strength, courage, determination, leadership, and independence. 14th Century Scotland was tumultuous as the Scottish clans when they weren't fighting each other, waged a seesaw struggle to win independence from the English kings Edward I and II. Alliances were made and broken with regularity, with border skirmishes and battles that destroyed castles and settlements and ravaged the population. In 1314, the name was established forever in Scottish lore as Robert the Bruce defeated a much larger English force Under Edward II at Bannockburn.
Today, I am grateful for another Bruce; my grandson. Technically, not yet, as the adoption hasn't been finalized, but for all intents and purposes, he is the eldest as well as the most recent of my grandsons. Summer hasn't been the most fun for him. He wears casts on both legs to correct a condition where he tends to walk on his toes, so swimming and much of the other fun summer activities are off limits to him. He is taking it in stride, and today when I took a truckload of wood over to Nate's to split, I found him sitting in a go-kart in the barn, reading while the other kids were splashing around in the pool. I grabbed a pair of work gloves and proceeded to unload the truck and split the wood. A few minutes later, Bruce appeared. "Need some help?" he asked.
"Sure," I replied, and he immediately fell to work, helping to unload the truck, then after I had split the wood, taking it and tossing it back into the truck. Somewhat less than an hour later, we were done, and he came along to help unload and stack back at my house. I turned to raking the stones from the area in the front yard that Tommy Rossow had filled in and our neighbor Johnny york-raked recently. Bruce helped seed the lawn and spread old hay over it, all in all, saving me an enormous amount of time. Bruce is always eager to help, giving me time and opportunity to build into him as best I can. My prayer is that he will learn to live into his name as I have learned to live into mine. Strength, courage, determination, even leadership; it's quite a legacy to follow. But that's what legacies are for, and it is my privilege to help him see his and to live into it. I am grateful for the opportunity I've been given to influence a new generation. With God's grace, it shall not go unrewarded.
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