A Family Legacy

I really intended to be blogging a lot more on my thoughts as I read through the Old Testament this year... I've had tons of them!  I can't believe all of the things that have jumped out to me... things that I've never noticed before.  Its almost been as if I'm reading this incredible story for the first time, though that's not the case.  I've read these stories before... its just that in the context of reading it straight thru from "cover to cover" I am seeing it unfold as one, grand story in a new and fresh way.  I hope your reading has produced similar results.

One thing that has struck me this week as I've read again the story of Rehoboam and the division of the kingdom in prepping for Sunday's message... is the legacy of Solomon.  Rehoboam was proud, pompous, arrogant and an unwise, inexperienced king... true.  His hasty decision to side with his buddies rather than the wiser elders of Israel, men who had served in his father's administration, led to the alienation of the northern kingdom and their rejection of him as their king.  Subsequently the nation split in two with Rehoboam holding on to only a fraction of the nation he had come to lead.  Yet, it wasn't all his fault.  This was in large part due to the unfaithfulness of his father, Solomon, who had chosen not to walk in HIS father's ways and instead to embrace the pagan cultures around him.  God brought judgment against Solomon and told him that this was going to happen.

I wonder what kind of legacy we are leaving for our children?  Solomon's legacy destroyed a nation.  What will mine produce?  What kind of example am I leaving behind for my boys?  What kind of mess am I going to leave behind for them to clean up?  Will they be able to tell their boys that their grand-dad "walked in the ways of their father, David?" or will they just roll their eyes and say, "Well, you know grand-pa... ?"  I wonder how the decisions I make today, the associations I involve myself with, and the way I  interact with them... will affect their lives tomorrow?  Hm.... something to ponder today.

Where does the time go?

Sometimes people are cruel. I had someone say to me the other night at our Senior Recognition Fellowship that it won’t be anytime before one of my kids will be there, walking across that stage and graduating from high school. “In the blink of an eye,” I believe was the exact phrase used. How cruel. Of course my brain recognizes this fact, but it is one that I choose not to think about often. While seeing each of my boys grow, I am naturally filled with pride, but it isn’t just a cliché to say that they are growing up too fast. Michael turned five last week and Andy will be nine next week… David will be seven in July. Yet, it seems like just yesterday we were changing their diapers and carrying them on our hip. So, that phrase is often heard throughout our house… “where does the time go?” These years while they are young are fun and full… even if sometimes exasperating!

Where does the time go? Interesting to think about isn’t it? On any given day, have you considered how you spend your time? How much of it goes to spending time with your family… time you’re your husband or wife… time with your kids? How much of it goes to spending time with God? And how much of it goes to things that really don’t matter in the big picture of things? Time is the one commodity that we all get exactly the same amount of. Nobody gets any more time in a day than any one else. We all get 24 hours… that’s 1,440 minutes… or 86,400 seconds in a day. The President gets the same amount as the trash collector. The preacher gets the same amount as the congregant. No more… no less. What matters is how we use that time. How is it spent? In the end, we are only stewards of our time. We didn’t create it… and we can’t create any more of it! It doesn’t belong to us… it comes from God… as a gift. What we can do with it… we can choose how we use it. What about your time? How have you been using it? Have you been investing it in the things that truly matter… in your relationship with God? … in your relationship with your family? … in furthering the kingdom of God? These are the investments that will prompt God to say at the end of our time, “Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with little… now I will reward you with more.” More time? How about eternity? Imagine a place where you won’t run out of time… a place where time will be no more… a place where an eternity with God will seem like a second. Yet, isn’t that the promise of God for those who invest for eternity here and now and spend their time wisely?