From Generation to Generation

In writing about the legacy I have from mothers and grandmothers yesterday, I failed to give God the credit for what He did down through the years in my family. Nor did I intend to intimate that my faith is exactly like theirs. The fellowship I am a part of has changed in many ways since Lucy Lantrip took that step into the Stone-Campbell movement. I realize that my roots have carried me far beyond themselves and have grown me into a tree my ancestors would not recognize: a spiritual tree anchored with my ancestors' protective, nourishing roots, but a tree supported by longer roots in new ground.

This passing the knowledge of God and the love of Christ from generation to generation was dictated by God over and over in the Bible. As I teach my seminar on Spiritual Autobiography, I hand out a three-page rendering of eighteen scriptures (and I am sure there are more) on the topic. The theme of the scriptures is REMEMBER and TELL. For example: Joel l:3 "Tell it to y our children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation." Simply taking them to Sunday School will not do it--we must talk to them as Deut. 6: 6-9 says: "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

I cannot guarantee that their beliefs will always duplicate yours--change and growth happen. However, if the process does not begin with you, where will it begin? And there is certainly truth to the adage that children can teach us more than we teach them sometimes. I was talking with my grandchildren last week about the role of cheerleaders for a team, and said that they help us to have spirit for our team. Ella, who is our resident theologian, said, "But Nonnie, the spirit comes from God." I was thirty years old before I even heard a statement or a sermon like that.

Resolve to "...perpetuate (God's) memory through all generations...." Psalm 45:17.