What Will Be Your Legacy?

When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son. 

The Talmud.

Our pastor shared this quote with us a few weeks ago in order to make us think about the impact our lives have on our children and grandchildren.  About our Legacy.  And think, I have.

No matter how much we hope our children learn from our words, they will no doubt catch how we live, and pass it on.  So one way or another, our lives impact our future generations to come. (Quite a sobering thought! )  

The challenge is this:

How do we actively shape our legacy into something which builds and reinforces the blossoms of a living faith in God? 

The pastor brought us to Deuteronomy 6 for a clue as to how we can do this.  

Hear, O Israel:  The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7

The Israelites were told to teach their children of God constantly.  It was commanded, largely, to help future generations know God, and in turn, trust His truth for their own lives.   

We, too, can help pass on our faith by sharing stories from our lives about God.  About how God has worked.  And about how He has answered our prayers. 

One of our homework assignments was to think about stories from our lives, like this one, and how God might use them to encourage the faith of our children.

When I was in junior high, my father had major back surgery.  He had already been off work for months, and it eventually became clear that he wouldn’t be returning to work.

So  we began the long process of applying for disability.  If you, or someone you know, has ever applied for disability, you know that wading through the red tape can take months, if not years.  And all the while, the families struggle to make ends meet.  Such was our case.

We stretched every penny, and bought nothing new.  But still, we had needs that were growing.

As the holidays approached, we found our wood for our wood stove (which we used to heat our home) nearly gone, and our freezer about empty.  We didn’t have a clue what we would do. 

But we prayed.  I don’t even remember what we prayed.  I just remember feeling anxious as I watched the lines of worry in my mother’s face.

Then, the week before Thanksgiving, over the course of just a few days, we watched people from our church pull into our drive.  One after another.  And every single one of them brought a turkey.  A BIG turkey! 

It got to a point where my brother and I would peek out the window to watch (and laugh) as another turkey emerged from a trunk.  Mom would shoe us into the other room because we couldn’t stop laughing.  And then she would answer the door.

She graciously and thankfully received every one.  All SEVEN of them (If I remember correctly).  Our freezer was filled to the brim with big turkeys--till not another would fit.

And then, a pick-up truck pulled into the drive…

With a full load of fire wood tucked in its bed!

It still brings tears to my eyes to remember the tangible feeling of God’s love and provision.  Those people had no idea just how much we needed their gifts.  But God did.  And he provided a feast, which lasted all winter! 

Those turkeys and that wood left a deep and permanent impression on my life of His ability to answer prayers way beyond what we ask.

Personal stories are powerful.  They can’t be argued away, or discounted.

And our children need to hear them.  Often.

We pray to the same God who parted the water for Moses, and provided manna in the wilderness.  Do our children see Him as a character in their Sunday School stories?

Or, are we showing them by our lives, and through our stories, that He is our living, loving, Heavenly Father?  Who stands waiting to meet their needs, and wanting to be part of their lives, every single hour. 

I’m so thankful for this series of sermons.  It has been incredibly convicting. 

Dear Lord,

Help me to do a better job of setting an example.  And of teaching my children. 

Help me to live a life worthy of being caught.  In spite of myself. 

And help me to encourage their blossoming faith by the stories I tell, and the faith that I live.