Guest Post by Mama
Part Two of our mother Jennifer's heart-to-heart post! You can find Part One here.
I have several Bibles that have been passed down to me. Not just any Bibles, but ones that are very special to me. Most represent the faith of those who have gone before me, and some, the faith of those who are going on ahead of me. I have my great-grandfather’s Bible. I never knew my great-grandfather, but I know he went to church and was a Christian, thus laying a foundation on Jesus for his future descendants. I also have his daughter’s Bible, who was my grandmother. On the other side of my family, I also have my grandmother’s Bible. She was a lovely Christian woman who was very influential in my mother’s life as well as my own. She loved the Lord with all of her heart, soul, mind and strength and is with the Lord now. The seeds that she sowed and the vision the Lord gave her are being lived out in some of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren today. I also have my grandfather’s Bible, who only came to know the Lord a year before he died. Nonetheless, he is a part of that great cloud of witnesses who have gone on before me, who through his faith in the last year of his life began to lay a Godly foundation for his future descendants. In addition, I have my mother’s Bible. I can remember my mom in her bathrobe every morning, getting up and reading this Bible at 6 am. That made a huge impression on me. My mother had a huge influence on my life with me coming to know the Lord and witnessing her daily walk out her love for Christ in the midst of her daily trials of having an abusive alcoholic husband. My dad was not a good picture of a Christian, and with the things I grew up with I did not have a secure, loving home outside of my relationship with my mom. My mom died when I was 21, but her Bible still brings me comfort, even after all these years. It’s written in, underlined, and well used.
As I look back, I can see God’s hand in my heritage. I remember the generation of my grandmother and my mother: they lived wholeheartedly for the Lord. But I can also see seeds that were planted and baby steps that were taken in the generations before them. Though I don’t know from personal observation, I can see the results of my great-grandparents’ love for God. God honored that, and the next generation took it further, even though there was stuff in my childhood (like an alcoholic father) that I wish I didn’t grow up with.
Then there are my children’s Bibles. As I look them…I have hope…a new generation…these are the Bibles of my children, carrying on the legacy that the Lord has passed down to us. I look around my circle of friends and see 2nd and 3rd generation Christians of young men and women who are carrying on with their own families the vision that their parents gave them. That is exciting to me! They don’t have “baggage” that they need to get over. What a freeing feeling that with each generation the vision gets stronger and better and clearer than it was in the generation before.
So, I challenge you to begin to have a generational vision long before I did. By doing so, by thinking of your descendants while in your youth, you will be purposing to make choices that are God’s best for your life. And in doing so you will be a part of carrying on the Godly vision that God gave the generations before you. That torch has been passed for perhaps several generations, or maybe just one or two—regardless of how long it has been going, the important thing is to keep carrying it, keep it lit and pass it on to the next person. So that they too will remember the vision of their grandfathers.
Begin to build memories that you will be proud to share in your golden years. Then, when you look back, you can say “I have few regrets, but great memories!”
Instead of being like the man in Ecclesiastes who didn't want to live with his past, we can prayerfully say with Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7: I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
What do you want to fill your scrapbook with?
Thanks for sharing! I had no idea what your past was like, but I can tell you that I see proof of the faithful generations that have come before you, walk with you, and will come after you!
ReplyDeleteGod is so good at using "bad" for good, isn't He?
I know my life has been a testimony to that. I'm excited to say that through it all, my "scrapbook" is one I treasure and look forward to passing on. Not because of things that I have done, but because of the work that God is continually doing. I have seen His grace first hand. I continue to see it with each passing day!