Crowns and Glory

(Proverbs 17:6 KJV)  Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

What happened to being proud of my children?  Is that ruled out?  I don’t think that is the point.  If my children were young I am not sure I could understand this.  Now that I am getting to the point where grandchildren would be expected, it has more meaning to me.  I am proud of my children.  If nothing else, my wife did a great job raising them.  It was a joy to watch and occasionally help.   My big concern now is to see if it will be passed on to the next generation.

My children have a very high opinion of my father.  I am not sure how much they remember from experience and how much they remember from the stories, but the comment is often made that he would be proud of his grandchildren.  He had four sons.  None were ever arrested.  All are believers.  But the true test was the next generation.  I must say that my nieces and nephews are a fine bunch.  Not as fine as mine, but definitely above average.  At this point there is only one in the whole bunch that seems to be turned away from the Lord.  That is where the legacy really shows up.

This points out a Biblical principle.  We should be building for the future.  By the future I mean generations, not hours or day.  On a day by day basis we trust and live by faith.  In so doing we model the kind of attitudes and actions which our children see.  It is an old cliche but so true, “One picture is worth a thousand words.”  From the other direction comes, “Your actions are so loud that I can’t hear your words.” 

So?  You will leave a legacy.  It will not be in how often you were promoted or if you made it into “Who’s Who.”  It will be in the values and priorities of your grandchildren.  Keep that in mind when you go to work or prepare dinner.