This Old House
Today my sister-in-law and I are beginning the process of cleaning out the parents' farmhouse. It is a daunting task, but I've been down this road before. That doesn't make it any easier, though. Where do you even start?
That old house has seen so much in her 100 years. She (and in my mind, that house is a she) was built in 1912. Like all of us, she has aged. Things have shifted. Her clothes (paint, carpet, wallpaper, etc.) have gone out of style. She seriously needs an update.
But, oh, the stories she might tell. Stories of the funny things, the things the children said and did. Stories of the sorrows and losses that pressed hard on the lives of those who lived here. Stories about crazy aunts and eccentric cousins.
Those stories are so important, not only to us, but to our children and our children's children. We need to tell them about our lives and about those who came before us. We need to tell the stories of faithfulness and of fortitude. Stories of strength and of struggles. Stories that make us laugh and those that make us cry. All of them are part of who we are. And they help others to know that though times may be hard, we can still survive. Most of all, they help others to know that God is faithful. Their grandparents' faith is important to my children as is that of their great-grandparents. My children need to know that their great-grandmother started a church in a little West Texas town by knocking on doors and gathering people together. They need to know that another grandmother was baptized in the Llano River. Those stories of faithful men and women are life-changing. They impact lives in the here and now.
So as I am cleaning and sorting today, I am also going to be listening. I wonder whose voices I will hear. What stories will they tell? I can't wait to hear.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1
That old house has seen so much in her 100 years. She (and in my mind, that house is a she) was built in 1912. Like all of us, she has aged. Things have shifted. Her clothes (paint, carpet, wallpaper, etc.) have gone out of style. She seriously needs an update.
But, oh, the stories she might tell. Stories of the funny things, the things the children said and did. Stories of the sorrows and losses that pressed hard on the lives of those who lived here. Stories about crazy aunts and eccentric cousins.
Those stories are so important, not only to us, but to our children and our children's children. We need to tell them about our lives and about those who came before us. We need to tell the stories of faithfulness and of fortitude. Stories of strength and of struggles. Stories that make us laugh and those that make us cry. All of them are part of who we are. And they help others to know that though times may be hard, we can still survive. Most of all, they help others to know that God is faithful. Their grandparents' faith is important to my children as is that of their great-grandparents. My children need to know that their great-grandmother started a church in a little West Texas town by knocking on doors and gathering people together. They need to know that another grandmother was baptized in the Llano River. Those stories of faithful men and women are life-changing. They impact lives in the here and now.
So as I am cleaning and sorting today, I am also going to be listening. I wonder whose voices I will hear. What stories will they tell? I can't wait to hear.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1
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