Generational Effections

my mom came in to visit and hang out with me and my wife last night. so weird for me that my mom and i are friends who hang out...anyway. this morning at breakfast she said something that struck me and made me think. "i just love being a parent to an adult child..it makes it all seem worth while, like i did a good job." this made me think, i wonder why we only measure growth in the immediate, rather than in the long term life effect. my parents surely had a number of reasons to think that they had failed, or that they just got a bad draw when i was in MS and HS. but the effect of parents and leaders who decide that there truly is power in long term perserverance is amazing. i know i have studied a lot lately on generational sin, and the affect one generation has on another, but today was the first day that i thought about the positive implications as well.