Leaving a Legacy

Memories are an amazing gift. Both my husband and my earliest childhood memory is of learning to tie our shoes.  Why is it we can remember some events with precise detail from years ago, but can’t remember other more recent events at all?

Last night we were at a home group Bible study.

We were discussing who God is . . .

         which led to how God has always wanted a relationship with us,

                           which led to when God’s presence dwelt with mankind,

                                           which led to a discussion of the tabernacle,

                                                               which let to us passing around a                                                                                                                   replica of a tabernacle for                                                                                                                   everyone to see.

          We discussed the details of the tabernacle and what items were in it. The most important part of the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies because God’s presence hovered above the Ark of the Covenant. (You know the Ark of the Covenant from the first Indiana Jones movie.)

          Inside the ark were three items:

a jar of manna,

the stone tablets with the ten commandments written on them,

and Aaron’s staff, which budded.

         Last night, after the Bible study was over, our 24-year-old son and his wife stayed and talked to us. He said he knew the staff budded because that was God’s way of choosing Aaron as the high priest over the other leaders from the twelve Israelite tribes. It is a small detail in the Bible, but very specific. We asked him how he knew that detail.

         He said when he was young I led a mom’s Bible study at our house. The mom’s brought their kids, about 12 kids in all. While the mom’s were studying the Tabernacle in the living room, one of the kid’s grandparents offered to teach this group of kids about the Tabernacle, upstairs in another room. For twelve weeks this amazingly generous couple spent two hours each week teaching those kids the details of the Tabernacle, using a flannel board and other props. They also brought snacks and games.

He said,

“Mom, that was the first Bible study I was ever in and I remember all about the Tabernacle from that couple teaching us. They were amazing. They were always prepared and had a flannel board and pictures. It was great.” 

My son was 4 years old!

         Four years old, and he remembers - twenty years later, about the details of the Tabernacle in the Bible because of the lavish love this couple had for the Lord, the Bible and teaching those kids.

          I am overwhelmed with gratefulness, again, for their amazing servant hearts. At the time, I thought it was so kind of them to take the kids so the mom’s could study the Bible. Little did I know what an impact it would have on my kids and our family.

To my friends reading this who teach little ones at church, Sunday school, Bible study and preschool:

               What you are doing is important and these kids do remember.                               Thanks for leaving a legacy!

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
 Matthew 19:14