“I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” Genesis 17:7
Hans says I tend to dream in pictures, more so scenarios. When I look at something I don’t just see it for its face value, but its potential. Whenever we were first married, we talked often about what we desired our family to be shaped around, and the legacy we wanted to give our children and grandchildren. Both our families didn’t come from a long line of much “spiritual heritage” so to speak. So, as you can imagine, that was the very thing we were most excited about in creating what would be “our home.”
Then we had Ramsey, our first born. Suddenly, we weren’t just talking about the generations that would know God in Christ after us, but visibly looking at one of its faces. Our son’s.
The idea of preserving a legacy came when Hans was given a book from an online theological blog to read & review. {can read his article here.} The author challenged the reader with this thought…
“You don’t know whether any of your ancestors prayed for you, but wouldn’t it have been glorious if they had? So apply the golden rule, and pray for your descendants. Most of the readers of this book will be, in the providence of God, an ancestor for tens of thousands of people. So pray for them. Ask God to give them His grace.” {To Your and Your Children}
This encouragement stirred a thought in me: What if there was a way that they could know? How even more glorious would that be? With those thoughts all colliding it led us to an idea we wanted to share with you all. A letter, specific for the generations to come, to be built upon and passed down. So one day, Lord willing, your great, great, great, grandchildren could hold and know a piece of their history from the very mouths who lived it.
I know what you’re thinking: “That seems like an impossible task.” However, we took the guess work out and laid out the exact the steps to follow to hopefully create a tradition in your family that goes far beyond you.
Basically, these two things are all you’ll need to remember:
1. one letter, written together by hand. {the number of children you have will determine the number of hand-written copies you will need to make. That extra effort is worth it. Promise. :)}
2. Give it to each child upon the start of their legacy when they become first time parents. {Whatever season you are in, it’s not too late! Go ahead and write the letter for each of your children now, and have a nice meal together where you give it to them, along with “the charge” of writing their own. We actually suggest making it an occasion like this regardless!}
Remember, the idea of the letter is to have it passed down and built upon. So each child will be given one copy of your letter for their family. When,they have children they will make a copy {on the copier machine, doesn’t need to be by hand 😉 } of your letter + write their own to be given to each child they have. By following those two steps above, each “descendant” should have their own stash of hand-written letters from their ancestors.
Finally, I suggest storing it in a family safe. Personally, we store ours in our Firebox (purchased for less than $20 at Target here.) with all of our other important documents.
If you’re like me, sometimes the hardest part of something this lofty is knowing where to begin so here are some tips on what can be contained in the letter…
- Tell about YOU. {how you met your spouse, what you do, what you enjoy, etc.}
- Share what life is like for you currently. {with how far technology has come these days it’s not too insane to mention we still drive our cars on the road 😉 }
- Say why you are writing this letter.
- What your hopes and prayer is for them.
Overall, think as if YOU are the grandchild reading a letter from your grandparents from 200 years ago. What is it that you wished you would have been told?
Voila! You’re done.
Our heart in sharing this is that your family history would be preserved in such a way that it would make its way to the hands in which it was intended for: that they may know they belong to a family name that has been carefully prayed for. The benefits of which they reap. A spiritual legacy. Their heritage.
“Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from Him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.”Psalm 127: 3-5a
To further carry the idea of legacy, I’ve partnered with @jordwatches to giveaway a store credit of $100 to put towards owning one their hand-crafted, wooden timepieces of your own be used as an heirloom in your home. The best part is that just by entering you already win a $25 store credit! How cool is that?
Enter by clicking here.
(contest end August 20th, 2017)
brittany e. saunders 