Leave an Inheritance

My husband’s grandma, affectionately known as Grandma Kate, gave us a box of her things every time we went to visit her. Mixed in with practical items from her Michigan farmhouse were decorative trinkets. The trinkets were the kind that are endearing at Grandma’s house but weird anywhere else. However, we happily accepted her possessions as we knew she wanted to downsize.

One of these boxes included a small, green dish. It was sculpted, trimmed in gold, and painted with flowers. I thought it was pretty.

I placed it under a plant as a draining dish.

It stayed there for a little while (although I’m sure the plant died). Eventually, during one household move or another, the dish broke. Without much thought, I threw it away.

Years later, at my sister-in-law’s house, I saw the same dish on display. That’s when I learned the story of my dish.

My sister-in-law explained that the plate was part of a collection of hand-painted dishes from the former country of Prussia. The dishes belonged to my husband’s great-grandma and great-grandpa. The design was said to be unique. And although never priced on Antiques Roadshow, the set, distributed among the grandchildren, had familial value.

Who knew?

I felt ashamed for throwing the dish away. I had not known its intrinsic value.

How many family treasures are discarded because we don’t realize their value?

Likewise, how many family traditions and godly inheritances are set aside because the next generation does not recognize their worth?

This reminds me of the Israelites. Throughout the Old Testament, one generation of Israelites falls prostrate, repents, and worships God. The next generation worships idols. The next generation returns to God, and the cycle begins again.

As the reader, I scratch my head. Israelites, did you not see what happened to the generations before you? Did you not hear their stories? The stories of how God delivered? The stories of how God punished?

As I read through the big picture of the Old Testament, I thought the Israelites’ journey resembled a rollercoaster of following and deserting God. They did not accept or pass on the wisdom given to them.

But I get it. I, too, am quick to forget God’s promises when other distractions or trials come my way.

Perhaps this is why Deuteronomy states, “These commands 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 6:6-7 NIV).

I look at my children and take these verses to heart. Which of my values will my children keep? What will they discard? How can I help them treasure God’s promises? How can we continuously think about God’s commands in our home? How can I leave my children an inheritance of faith?

I inventory my life in contrast to my parents’ and my grandparents’ lives. What has held? What has faded away? Culture shifts, but God’s eternal Word stays the same. Here is what I have found to be important.

 Be the example.

I remember early mornings during my childhood. The smell of coffee wafted through our home, and I would find my father at his chair. He read the Bible every morning when I was growing up, and still does today. Sometimes, as he bent his head to pray, I would hear him cry out with tears, he and the Holy Spirit working things out, his glasses removed and placed on top of his Bible.

 It’s not enough to tell your children how to live; you must live it out so they can see.

Both my parents led by example. How many times did my mother encourage me to stand up for what is right? In her job as a school behavior specialist, she represented truth every day to a classroom of dazed students. And recently, when she was stuck on the opposing side of a conflict, with pressure to conform on all sides, she stood up for the values passed on to her by her parents. 

Tell the stories.

Educators like to refer to Piaget’s preoperational stage (ages two to seven) as an opportune time for students to accumulate language. Children are like sponges at this age.

That’s why, in addition to nursery rhymes, Christian families should hide Bible stories and Scriptures in their children’s hearts.

At the age of two, my daughter learned the Lord’s Prayer after listening to her brother say it every night for a week. Scriptures like this are something I want her to have hidden in her heart for a lifetime.

But along with a biblical base of stories and scripture, I want to tell them my God story. Tell them how their dad and I weathered life’s storms. Tell them stories about their grandparents and great-grandparents. As a little girl, I sat in my grandma’s warm kitchen. She baked and told me stories of her childhood, how God was present even when he felt far away. Through her stories, even those wherein she made the wrong choices, I learned about forgiveness and God’s restoration.

 Give it to God.

No matter what we do as parents, children still have to choose their own way. Every generation must decide who they will follow. There is no inherited salvation in God’s kingdom. No grandchildren in the family of God, only sons and daughters. It amuses me when I look at large families. Siblings who had the same parents and presumably similar childhood experiences choose very different paths. How can two people from the same family retain different values?

Parents must relinquish their hold on their precious little ones and give them to God, both figuratively and in prayer. Let prayer soak the midnight hours when the baby is small, and let prayer be on our lips when the teenager sneaks in the back door past curfew. And as my grandma showed me through her daily prayers, never give up on a wayward child.

Every generation must decide what they will take with them.

Seek to leave an inheritance.

In addition to the green plate, Grandma Kate gave us a hand-stitched family blanket. The blanket was wrapped in another sheet. It was accompanied by newspaper articles. There were dates and names stitched into the blanket.

The value was easily perceived. For every move, we transported the blanket ourselves, entrusting no one else with it. It’s an heirloom we want to pass on to our children one day, an inheritance.

However, what our children do with it will be their choice.

As for our children’s future life choices, I pray that the actions my husband and I take today will help them see the importance of their godly inheritance. May they live it out and pass it on to their children.

Ashley Shannon is a wife, mother, and self-appointed adventure curator. As a lifelong learner, she enjoys exploring the coastal South where she lives and painting her experience of motherhood with words.

Photograph © Jasmin Schreiber, used with permission