I love to get outside, and walk enjoying all that God created. In getting out and away, I can pray and reflect on things, often getting a different perspective on life! As I was walking this morning, I was reflecting on the day before and the sweet time we had as a family worshipping together at the yearly family reunion Sunday service. My husband, Mark, has an unusual family. There are four generations that sincerely love one another; they genuinely care about one another and they love the Lord. There are no divorces in the family, as of the present. Every summer they gather at a lake in northeast Oklahoma to reunite.
As I walked, I thought about Granddaddy Taylor and Nana; their love of music, their love for the Lord and the church and the godly principles they instilled in their four girls- Nell, Jeanne, Ann, and Kay. I thought about Aunt Ann, who died three years ago, and how she prayed for the family each day by name. I remembered our older daughter’s birthdays celebrated for years at the family reunion back when we met in August. I remembered the summer we rushed Angela to the Muskogee, Oklahoma emergency room for stitches, as the result of a fall from a tree house. I thought about the hours Mark’s dad, Bo, spent teaching each of us and the grandchildren to water ski. I thought about the gallons of lake water we have “consumed” and the numerous hats and sunglasses that we collectively contributed to the bottom of the lake bed. I thought about the skiing Mark did over the years, that he can no longer do because of the condition from which he suffers. I thought about the numerous hamburgers and hotdogs consumed at Barnacle Bills, and the homemade ice cream eaten and the many catfish we’ve fed. Then there were the broken props and the lost anchors. I thought about the memories our girls have of our time spent at the lake over the years and the treasure of those memories. Nana, Granddaddy, Bo, Ann, and Nell, have all gone on to heaven. As I walked, I found myself thanking God for the legacy each one had left and the sacrifices each of them had made.
I thought especially about Mark’s parents, Bo and Nell. He was a pastor and she was a high school home economics teacher, and I am certain their salaries were small. But, over thirty years ago, they sacrificed to purchase the little green cabin located in the woods here at the lake. A few years later, they sold the green cabin and purchased the little yellow cabin with a partial lake view. Bo traded boats several times until he got the tan Cobalt that the family has enjoyed for years. I am certain that in our younger years we had no idea of the sacrifice, they made in order to provide this place for their family to enjoy and create memories, memories that will last for generations to come. When Mark’s dad passed away at sixty-nine, his mother was determined to keep the cabin and boat. I know she sacrificed to keep this place for her children and grandchildren. Now, with his mother gone, the question for Mark and his siblings is, “Do we keep the cabin?”
Our daughter, Angela, and her children were here this past weekend for the family reunion. She commented to us that walking inside the cabin was like going back in time. The décor was very dated and was never changed unless something broke, or a couch was replaced at Bo and Nell’s home and the old one brought to the cabin. The beds were changed when Nell’s home was sold five years ago and she moved into assisted living. But, other than that, all has remained the same. All the memories we have here were created through the sacrifice of those who have gone on.
I thought about the legacy left by Bo and Nell in their faithfulness of answering God’s call to ministry, which has been an example to their children and grandchildren; also their faithfulness in daily being in God’s word and praying for their family. For me the definition of legacy is a life example set by a person or lived out by a person that is worthy of others following or emulating. Bo and Nell left a legacy!
I wondered what type of legacy Mark and I are leaving to our children and grandchildren. What memories have we created for them? Will they know the sacrifices we have made? Will they desire to walk faithfully with God as a result of observing our walk? I am grateful for those who have gone on. I only wish I had taken the time to thank them for the sacrifice and legacy they provided for our family.
Sacrifice and legacy- what a rich inheritance!
Father, I so desire to live worthy of Your son’s sacrifice for me. I pray You will find me faithful to your calling on my life, living in obedience to Your word. May all that I have and all that I am be worthy of all You have done for me. I pray that I will live a life that will be an example to my children and grandchildren, a life and legacy that will live on long past my days on this earth. May I leave a rich inheritance of sacrifice and a legacy for those left behind.
“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Rest and wait patiently for Him.” Psalm 37:4-7a
“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” Acts 2:39
“But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children.” Psalm 103:17
“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Revelation 2:10b
dianne