February 18, 2022

Dear Ones,

Happy Weekend! We are enjoying time at Mark’s and had yummy big steaks last night. This morning Al went out with Mark for breakfast and to have father/son time.  I enjoyed catching up  with Andrea. We will be having games and prizes and more games today!
Devotioins from Judy’s heart

Al and I always look forward to time with the grandchildren and is a special time for us to observe how their personalities are developing and to know their hearts more. We love to play games with them, listen to them share, go out to eat, and hear their prayers before they go off to sleep. Of course lots of hugs are nice too! But even thought these are fun things to do together, we hope that we are leaving something behind for them to remember us by.

I was reading an article by Jeime Jo Wright who talks about leaving a legacy of faith behind for our children and grandchildren. Legacy is something we transmit like a belief or way of life. We don’t want them to only remember games and fun but to leave behind the way of faith. That means speaking about the things of the Lord, sharing how we see Him at work around us, learning scripture verses, etc.

Like it says in Deuteronomy 6 we are to teach our loved ones to observe God’s ways; verse 2 says, “so that your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I will give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.” In verses 4-6 we are further told to love God with all our hearts , souls and strength, and to impress His commandments on our children while they are at home, walking, and going to bed and getting up. That means all the time from morning to night. We need to live it and use the opportunities throughout the day to teach our children to know and love God.

Last time we were at Mark’s, grandpa asked John Mark what he liked about their new church. He is only 12 but said he noticed that people lived holy lives. Kids notice the lives of those around them, and are influenced by them. If we are concerned about our children, then we need to make faith a part of our conversation and actions.

Mark asked us to bring the scripture references of the Bible verses we taught our family as they were growing up. It is a long list but perhaps his boys will learn many of the same scriptures he did. Let us not assume that our children will just somehow naturally absorb the Christian faith but speak and teach it in our every day lives.

Challenge for today: Ask God to show you how you can make a difference in the next generation.