how do you do that little queen wave?

Back in October, I wrote about finding my family tree online. At the time, it only went back to about the late 1600s, and it seemed as though I could only know of my family since they came from Europe, but not before that. I recently revisited the site and was surprised to find that the guy has added a lot more information. He has been studying the history of the clans in the area where Daddy grew up and putting all the data on his web site, complete with references for where the info has been obtained.

I started looking at my grandmother's lineage and found quite a few surprises. I got really excited when I started finding people born in Ireland (I had always suspected I was a bit Irish). And then there were some born in England, really close to the Scottish border—more excitement since I have this fascination with George MacDonald and his beloved Scotland. And then I started seeing titles like "Sir" and "Knight" and "Baron" and I thought that was extremely cool. I just kept going back and back until I noticed "Henry III, King of England" and I thought, no way!!

My jaw was set in permanent "drop" position as I saw the names of those who've gone before me:

Of the Kings of England (circa 1000 - 1200 A.D.):
• Edward I "Longshanks" (The king that William Wallace was revolting against, for all you "Braveheart" fans. I don't know that I'm real proud of that one....)
• Henry III
• John "Lackland"
• Henry II "Plantagenet"
• Henry I "Beauclerc"
• William "The Conquerer"

Of the Kings of Scotland (circa 900 - 1000 A.D.):
• Malcolm III Canmore
• Duncan I
• Malcolm II
• Kenneth II
• Malcolm I

Of the Kings of France (circa 900 - 1200 A.D.):
• Philippe III
• Louis IX
• Louis VIII
• Philippe II
• Louis VII
• Louis VI
• Philippe I
• Henri I
• Robert II "The Pious"
• Hugh Capet
• Hughes "The Great"
• Robert I

There were also Kings of Sweden (Olaf III, Erik VIII, Emund Eriksson and Erik—900s to 1000s A.D.); Emperors of Germany (Otto II and Otto I); but the name that almost threw me off my chair was "Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor", who reigned from 768 to 814 A.D.!!

I stared at the computer screen for a long time. How could I be descended from royalty? And not just the royalty of one nation that no one has ever heard of, but of nations that ruled the world! How cool is that???

As Christians, we're often exhorted to believe that we are royalty—heirs to the Kingdom of God. And we are—I believe that with my whole heart. The only problem is that I've never actually felt like royalty. I've always just felt pretty much like a nobody, or actually like an "anybody"—not extraordinary at all. And practically speaking, my new-found ancestry doesn't really change anything about my everyday life—nobody treats me any differently; I still have to push my way through the crowds at the souk and carry my groceries home in my backpack and scrub my own toilet. But I think I'll keep practicing that little "queen wave" just in case anyone ever discovers that I'm heir to the throne....