Tag Archives: Legacy

Chapter-a-Day Proverbs 27

February 8, 2012 Tom Vander Well 4 Comments

Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad.
Then I will be able to answer my critics.
Proverbs 27:11 (NLT)

I happened to be visiting with a farmer and his father yesterday. Finding ourselves sitting there with a little time on our hands, I began asking questions and making some small talk. The family farm had been passed down from his great-grandfather who came to America from the old country around the turn of the 20th century. When I asked if any of his children were going to carry on the family farm, I kicked the pebble which started an avalanche.

A long, sad saga of parental woe flooded from the farmer’s mouth. One son said he wanted to take it on and carry on the family legacy, but he didn’t show any actual ambition to do any actual work or finish the degree he felt short of completing. A second son had attended a year of college here and a year of college there to study this or that but didn’t want to finish and ended up working a low paying job in the area. For reasons the father had not been told, the son lost that job and was currently unemployed. The third son was a similar story. He went to one year of community college and then quit. He apparently had no job and showed no signs of finding one. The father stared blankly out the window as he talked. You could feel the heavy weight of his heart.

I sat and quietly listened as the farmer went down his descriptive checklist of passive, undisciplined, and aimless children. I tried not to be judgmental, but to listen graciously and offer no comment. I realized that I was hearing the father’s perspective and the sons, had they been there to offer testimony, may have shared a very different story. A lone perspective rarely, if ever, offers an accurate picture of the family system.

Nevertheless, I walked away saddened by the tragic story the farmer told of his children and the empty, disappointed look in his eyes as he told it. I suddenly felt a surge of gratitude for my children and for their passion, their ambition, and their heartfelt desire to make a positive mark on their world. I felt the stark contrast between the farmer’s story and the one I get to tell.

Today, I am grateful that I am blessed with children who make my heart glad.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Deuteronomy 15

September 8, 2011 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Give freely and spontaneously. Don’t have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God’s, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors. Deuteronomy 15:10-11 (MSG)

As a child my parents signed us up to provide food for Thanksgiving to a family who couldn’t afford it. I still remember driving with my mother to a section of town that we had always driven through. I remember the house with the run down porch and handing the bags of groceries, the frozen turkey, the cans of cranberry sauce and green beans over to a woman I did not know, whom I would never see again.

I remember my Great Aunt telling me of my grandfather. There were some terrible years after her divorce. Each time my grandparents drove the 200 miles to visit, she said she would clean her apartment the next week and find a fifty dollar bill on top of the refrigerator. Knowing that her pride would never allow her to accept a freely given handout, my grandfather would slip the gift on top of the refrigerator where it wouldn’t be seen until cleaning day.

I remember a friend who, just a few years ago, told me in a passing comment what a miser she considered me to be. It was said in off-hand jest, but I perceived the sincerity of the jab. She really does consider me to be miserly.

And there is the rub. On one hand is the legacy, passed on to me by previous generations, of grace and generosity which I so desire be and to carry on; the desire to be the person described in today’s chapter giving freely and spontaneously: open, purse, open hands. On the other hand is the reality of a sinful and stingy heart that others see and perceive in me and my actions. I feel constantly the tension between Jesus’ challenge to give everything away and my heart’s penchant for hoarding everything for myself.

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Some days I am gratefully reminded that this is a journey and I have not arrived. I am not the person God desires, nor the person I, myself, desire. The work of molding and shaping is not complete. I am a work in progress. The key is to keep moving forward letting the regular motion of the journey keep my heart pliable like clay that is constantly worked in the hands of the potter. If I stop for too long and choose not to press on, then things sit and slowly begin to dry out and harden.

Here we go.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Jeremiah 37

February 22, 2011 Tom Vander Well 2 Comments

“And tell me, whatever has become of your prophets who preached all those sermons saying that the king of Babylon would never attack you or this land?” Jeremiah 37:19 (MSG)

“Old Testament Persons for $800, Alex.”

“A contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah, he was a false prophet who told the King that Babylon would never attack.”

[cue sound effect: crickets chirping]

I doubt even Watson the robot could get that one. The reality is that history did not record the names or messages of the false prophets. Perhaps there’s a random name etched on the fragment of a tablet or scroll and referenced in some obscure archaeology dissertation. But, let’s be real, it’s far from general public knowledge. Jeremiah’s story, however, and his writing are read and referenced by millions to this day 2500 years after he lived and died.

Forgive my little foray into navel contemplation this morning. I’ve been thinking a lot about relevance lately. I’ve been noodling on the idea of legacy. What of my life will be completely forgotten when they close the casket? What, if anything, will survive? Will anything from my life have any lasting value or significance?

What struck me in reading today’s chapter is the contrast. Jeremiah spoke what was true. And, while it was wildly unpopular and landed him in a dungeon, it has lasted the test of time. The other prophets spoke what was, in the moment, convenient and popular. Still, it was untrue. Even if history does record their names, it is nothing more than a tough piece of obscure trivia that would probably too tough for final Jeopardy.

Despite my many failures to this date in the journey, I really want my life, my words, and that which I produce to be marked by what is true. Perhaps, it will then have some lasting value.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and Shawn Smith

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 2 Kings 21

March 8, 2010 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king. He ruled for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. In God's judgment he was a bad king—an evil king. He reintroduced all the moral rot and spiritual corruption that had been scoured from the country when God dispossessed the pagan nations in favor of the children of Israel. 2 Kings 21:1-2 (MSG)

Last night my wife and I had a friend, a professor from Central College, over for dinner. It was a wonderful evening. I thought of my grandfather, who graduated from Central in 1929. In 1927, he became a charter member of a fraternal theatrical organization which still operates within the college's theater department. I was not aware of this when I moved here six years ago.I happened upon his signature on the group's charter hanging on a wall. How ironic that eighty years later I would move to the same area and be involved with the theatrical community he helped get started.

I look back at the generations before me, and I feel fortunate. While no one is perfect, I can look back through my father's family and my mother's family and recognize grandparents and great-grandparents who sought to live right and parent well. There are key individuals who desired to leave a legacy of faith and life which I recognize in my own life and, I pray, will continue to be lived out in my children and the generations to come.

This resonates as I think about Manasseh in today's chapter. His father, Hezekiah, was listed among the "good" kings but his legacy, realized in his son, was unparalleled evil. When confronted by Isaiah with the prophecy that his descendents would be submitted to a terrible captivity, Hezekiah's response was completely self-centered: "Well, I'll be gone by then." The first ten years of Manasseh's reign, he was co-regent with his father Hezekiah. They shared the throne as Hezekiah battled his illness. Hezekiah had every opportunity to teach and mentor his son, but he left little or no imprint of faith and righteousness.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 1 Kings 4

January 8, 2010 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

God gave Solomon wisdom—the deepest of understanding and the largest of hearts.1 Kings 4:29 (MSG)

Along my journey, I have had the privilege of conducting a number of funeral services. Most people don't consider the task a privilege, but I've always found funerals to be an extroadinary event for individuals and families. Death is the ultimate rite of passage, and walking with a family through the traumatic event provides life lessons most people will never experience.

For example, when preparing to deliver a eulogy and a funeral message, I usually meet with the family and ask them just to take some time to talk about and tell stories about their loved one who has passed on. It can be a really tender, special time or it can be an agonizing, painful experience.You begin to learn a lot about who this person by the legacy they left behind through their loved ones descriptions.

When I read today's chapter and came to the writer's summary of Solomon, I was struck by the description that Solomon had "the deepest of understanding and the largest of hearts." Wow. That's not a bad legacy to leave behind. I'd consider my journey well traveled if my loved ones, gathering together at my passing, would describe me with those words.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickrand chuckumentary

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Exodus 28

October 5, 2009 Tom Vander Well 2 Comments

"Aaron will regularly carry the names of the sons of Israel on the Breastpiece of Judgment over his heart as he enters the Sanctuary into the presence of God for remembrance." Exodus 28:29 (MSG)

On the bay window in our dining room sits an ornate Bible big enough to choke a mule. It is worn with age, but beautiful with large silver clasps holding the cover closed. It is written entirely in Dutch. It belonged to my great-grandfather, Walter Vander Well, who emigrated to the U.S. from the Netherlands back in 1885. It regularly reminds me of the faith of my father's family, and hearkens me back to memories of sitting in my grandfather kitchen as he read God's message to the family after a meal.

On the sideboard in our living room is a tattered, leather covered Bible. It belonged to my grandfather's Uncle, James Hendrickson, who was a preacher on the Iowa and Illinois prairie in the early 20th Century. My great-grandfather committed suicide when my grandfather was 13, and my grandfather was raised by his grandparents. His Uncle Jim became a large spiritual influence in his life. His old Bible regularly reminds me of the faith of my mother's family, and how it guided them through difficult circumstances.

As I read in today's chapter about the breastpiece made for the high priest to wear, it struck me that Aaron was to take the names of his ancestors, the twelve sons of Jacob (a.k.a. Israel) into the sanctuary with him. What a reminder of spiritual legacy. How blessed to remember family, physical or spiritual, who sojourned before us and cleared a path for us to follow.

Today, I'm thankful for my family members who walked the path before me and blazed a trail of faith in ways that I'm sure I don't know nor can I comprehend. I'm mindful of a daughter getting married in two weeks, of a new generation to come, and my role in walking faithfully ahead of those who follow the path behind me.

Perhaps my Bible will one day sit on a great-great-grandson's coffee table as a reminder.