This year, I’ve thought a lot about how these traditions play into the bigger idea of creating a legacy. Seven years ago last Saturday, a woman I met on a handful of occasions saw the face of Jesus for the first time. At the end of a full life, what must that be like? I came to know this woman through one of her grandchildren—one of many who seek to advance the heritage she and her husband initiated. I remember his recognition of his grandmother’s spiritual gift to him, to his offspring. Even as a teenager, he felt her encouragement, her prayers, her legacy. I sat beside her in the kitchen once, and watched her love and life’s work manifest around her in the laughter and embrace of her growing progeny.
This woman’s life stood on the profound belief that as children of God, we have inherited God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
And so I wonder, in this season of life, how do I emulate my friend’s grandmother? How do I perpetuate the prayers of my own parents and their friends who have invested their legacy into my life? Are there traditions I can begin today that will lay the foundation for a family yet to come?
Who will you invest in this Christmas? What legacy will you give?
“O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.” Psalm 71:17-18
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