Bittersweet Legacies

     I've been thinking about something my Pastor said recently. He had been to his uncle's funeral and was feeling the blessings of his uncle's legacy of faith. The joy of knowing your loved one is with the Lord offers so much peace in times of loss. And the blessings of knowing someone who was fully committed to the LORD in such a way that your family wants to be like they were...it's priceless! Isn't that the goal of raising a family? Follow me as I follow Christ? It brings me to such sadness, though. Around me are so many broken families. So many families following everything but Christ.
      And then there are the thoughts of what was lost for my boys. A heritage abruptly changed by selfish choices, or perhaps those choices were unselfish life-giving ones?
      I held my great niece last night. Thinking about the heritage that her parents are laying out for her. I felt so hopeful as I watched her Dad give her the love and care that she needs. She has already lost so much. Can what is broken be fixed by love? Will kids with broken heritages always mourn for what is lost?
      LORD willing  I will spend my life trying to convince my children of their new Hope. Their heritage in the LORD....fellow heirs in Christ. Adopted into the family of faith through the blood of Jesus.  We all have a new identity in Christ..a new heritage that says...we are new creations...the old is gone, the new has come. Will they believe it? Will it shape their lives?
     I see it in my daughters. As adults being tested by the world, I see them hold on to the Hope of knowing who they are in the LORD and I am so grateful! And this morning I am praying that the God of All Hope will do that same work in my boys. Will you pray that for them as well? Perhaps for yourself?