Leaving a Godly Legacy

When I think about my upbringing, I think of my pink room, white canopy bed, turkey
at Thanksgiving with all the family, and a Christmas tree all lit up with no toys underneath, because Santa hadn't come yet! I remember a mom, who would tuck me in each night, pray with me, and who would sit on her bed and read the Bible. Every Sunday morning I would awaken to find my dad at the kitchen table with his Bible, preparing his Sunday school lesson. I remember a little brown Chevette that use to take us 3 times a week to church. And, I remember a small church, filled with friends, loved ones, and a youth pastor that was there with me every step of my teenage journey.

When I think about leaving a legacy, my mind goes back to the generations before me. Each generation holds a set of building blocks that either adds or takes away the foundation of their future family. For example, my grandparents were Christians who taught my parents about Christ, and my parents chose to add to that foundation by teaching me. But, what if my parents had chosen a different path? Where would my foundation and my children's foundation lie? When you build a solid foundation, you use the proper materials so that years down the road, your foundation does not begin to crumble. You also choose to upkeep that foundation by fixing any holes or cracks. But, if you get someone who starts out with a solid foundation, and then begins to not take care of or repair these imperfections, the foundation will slowly become destroyed, and the home that was once tall and strong, will fall one day, condemned.

Let's take our schools for example. When I was growing up, you said the pledge of allegiance every day. You put your hand on your heart and saluted the flag in honor. At our graduation, they would pray over the class as they were about to embark on their new college adventure. We were free to talk about God and have Christmas parties and celebrate Jesus' birth. As the years go by, they take God out of schools, no more pledge, no more prayer, and "Christmas" parties become "holiday" parties. The legacy of a God-first nation is slowly lost as we allow the cracks to go unfixed and it begins to crumble.

Such is a family legacy with Christ. Whether you grew up with a solid Christian foundation or your foundation is beginning to crumble around you, each of us has a choice to make. We can either neglect the foundation and allow it to continue to crumble, begin again and build that solid foundation for our future, or start to fix the cracks and holes that we have allowed to weaken it. You can start small by setting aside a prayer time, or maybe reading the Bible each day to your children, even if it's only a verse. Begin to attend church, and don't forget to drag that teenager along with you. Remember, building and repairing takes time; it can't be accomplished overnight. But, with prayer and taking it day by day, we can slowly strengthen our foundation and begin to leave our children a Godly legacy.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
"...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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."