What If We Gave Them Something They Could Keep?

 

What If We Gave Them Something They Could Keep?

Proverbs 13:22a “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children:…”

     American Idol.  Yah, you’ve all seen the T.V. show.  We are all supposed to sing like that guy or gal I suppose.  At least we are supposed to clap when they render a good performance.  Such can be with runners and the race.

     Didn’t He say He would reward those who persevered?  Through trying times, the Godly are refined and drawn closer to Him as more insulating dross is removed.  But as we draw closer to Him, our relationships with our brothers and sisters draw in also.  In marriage, we have a more sure foundation to build upon because the tie is initiated with a covenant.  So what have I to give my grandchildren?

     Some years ago, my grandfather died and left our family a gift of money.  He didn’t know how bad our growing family needed a tile floor in the kitchen!  It wasn’t easy cleaning Kool Aid spills off of brown carpet..  That was his passing.  That was money.  That was very convenient.

     But today, I have no monetary wealth to pass on.  Oh, I suppose all our possessions could be auctioned off and divided up, but none of the many would receive much.

     At first, Proverbs brought this depressing thought.  What would they gain by my death?  Only now am I planning a 401k and I don’t have land to leave them.  Until now, their grandma and I have meted out expenditures on the present, forgoing the distant horizon of supposed death.  Life insurance sure, but that is catastrophic not an inheritance.

     Yesterday after I read this verse, I began thinking God’s way.  My wife’s grandparents left her something.  Not the old smoky house on South 7th Street in Keokuk.  The floor boards would vibrate when the semi’s would run by!  I can’t even remember a car they drove.  But I was woven into their family as her grandparents made it a point to include me in.  Down to the Chuck Wagon, out to the dam, and over to Lomax maybe for some fish.  Grandpa played the acoustic guitar in benefit bands.  Grandma never complained and the two never got cross with each other.  If they did, there sure was no yelling involved.  What those two gave me was a healthy picture of what love could be.  You see, Grandma was legally blind and Grandpa made sure she was well taken take of.  They gave me an inheritance.  Yes, they gave me their granddaughter.  But more importantly, they showed me that love could be walked out in service daily.

     Looking back and running the memories through Proverbs 13, I decided I would like to leave a kind of gift Mr. and Mrs. Willis Frank Lamb gave me.  The kind that can’t be taken.

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