Legacy: Leaving More than Just a Box of Matchbooks

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Matchbooks

I love walking through antique stores.

I’ll admit, it was my least favorite thing to do as a child. The smell was awful. Not to mention my allergies with all the dust. It was never a pleasant experience.

But now, I love it. I like unique things. While we live in a cookie cutter neighborhood, both my husband and I would rather live in historic downtown or an old farmhouse. Something old, with character.

My husband took our family on a surprise trip to a local antique shop. Yes, we took the kids. Are we crazy? Probably. Did they like it? I don’t think they hated it. When I asked each of them what their favorite thing was that they saw, I got answers. So that’s a win, right? Our oldest daughter liked the tea sets, while our oldest son thought for a moment and said he liked the Goofy phone. Our youngest son said his favorite was the Mickey phone. I think our baby girl just enjoyed snuggling with mama in the BobaAir.

While we were walking through all the stuff, I couldn’t help but think about the stories that these items could tell. The brightly colored egg basket that collected eggs each day to feed the family. The strawberry tray with 8 boxes that endured countless hours of being taken out into the strawberry patch to collect rich, ripe, red berries.

Everything had a story.

Then we came to bags of matchbooks.

Did you ever collect matchbooks? I did.

As I looked at each bag, trying to see what the matchbooks said, I was hit with the reality of the story in this little bag. This bag contained memories of trips taken, meals enjoyed, places stayed. Possibly even phone numbers of the person sitting across the room or of a business partner from a transaction that took place.

Oh, the stories.

But then I was sadden a bit. What if this was all the former owners left behind? They couldn’t take it with them. What if their lives were so consumed by stuff, they missed the bigger picture?

Deuteronomy 6-6-9 tells us, ” And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Instead of leaving a legacy of stuff, I want to leave a spiritual legacy.

I want to teach my children to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I want them to know that the Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching and rebuking.

I want them to love the nations.

But it has to start with me.

I can tell my children what to do over and over again, but unless I live it out, those words will fall on deaf ears. The good news is that God can use me despite myself. Even with all my shortcomings, He will use me in the lives of my children. Every day I must get on my knees and fight for my children.

So today, I will be intentional.

What are ways you are leaving a legacy for your children and your children’s children?

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