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Make a Legacy Virtue List

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Here's a great idea from a Harvest Legacy e-newsletter that, though written to grandparents, it applies as well to PARENTS or anyone working in ministry to children: 

Make a list of virtues you want to pass on to your grandchildren and then look for ways to impart them.

Your list could look something like this:

Look for Scripture to pass on to your grandchild that backs up your legacy virtue. For example:

Be Courageous - Be strong and courageous...the Lord goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged (Deuteronomy 31:7-8).

  As you make your list, consider 
  the 'fruit of the Spirit'
  listed in Galatians 5:22-23,
  or the qualities of love
  listed in I Corinthians 13:4-7.

Tip:  Do you have a set of our PASTA BOWLS that are edged with the Fruit of the Spirit? Use those occasions at mealtimes/snacktimes when serving not only pasta, but salads, vegetables, popcorn, ice cream, etc. to talk to your child or grandchild about the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

Once you have your list, passing your legacy virtues on to your grandchild is when you will need to get creative. Remember the age of the child as you go about this task.

One way is to tell stories of your childhood which taught you something about your virtues. Use a tape recorder and send one legacy virtue story per tape. Or purchase a digital recorder to record and send your story via email!

Start a book and create a page per virtue to send to your grandchild. Include a story on why this is important to you and to your grandchild, a photo with you that illustrates the idea or story being told, and a Scripture verse. Be sure to make some of the page handwritten. Imagine the legacy your grandchild will have in the years to come as that book takes shape. Your words in your handwriting with your photos...that is truly a legacy worth your time and effort. (You can publish your own digital storybook--called digital scrapbooking--at Scrappin' Digital.)

These ideas are from the Harvest Legacy e-newsletter, a ministry to parents and families of cross-cultural missionaries (by Women of the Harvest).

Feel free to post your LEGACY VIRTUE list below . . . or relate a memorable experience you've had teaching a single virtue to your children or grandchildren.

In His grace,
Karen Collins

God's Monsoon

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God's Word changes people!

Here at Scripture Tableware, we offer a classy way for you to serve LIFE by serving meals to your family and friends on dinnerware edged in Scripture, God's precious Word.

But we want to encourage you to go DEEPER into His Word--that's where real change in your life takes place. Bible study, prayer and meditation on Scriptures will enrich your life as you learn to set your focus on Jesus rather than yourself.

Hear what author Paul David Tripp says about the transformational power of God's Word in his book, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands (p. 22):

I have visited northern India several times. For most of the year this part of the world is extremely dry and hot. During the dry season, northern India looks parched and barren, but Indians know that change is on the way. Hope comes from the south as the torrential seasonal rains called monsoons make their way up the continent. When the rains finally reach northern India and satiate its parched ground, it is as if someone flicks a switch: the earth explodes into bloom. In a matter of days, northern India is alive with exotic leaves and flowers.

The transformational power of God's Word is no less dramatic. Personal ministry brings the monsoon of God's Word to the parched terrain of the heart. Though a complete transformation will not take place overnight, our lives will burst forth in new beauty of character and new fruitfulness of life. Isaiah 55:10-13 captures this dynamic well:

As the rain and the snow
   come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
   without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
   so that it yields seed for the sower
             and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
   It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
   and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
   and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
   will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
   will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
   and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD's renown,
   for an everlasting sign,
   which will not be destroyed.

God's Word changes people this dramatically. The rain that soaks the parched land always has an effect. It bathes soil, which feeds roots, which nourishes plants, which produce flowers. So it is with the Word of God. It changes what it touches, producing beauty and fruitfulness in people's lives. These changes point to two wonderful realities.

• First, we are, in fact, God's covenant children. He has promised to be our God, to be with us and to bless us.
• Second, these changes point us to his glory. The flowers and fruit that the rain produces give glory to the One who sent it. As we bring God's Word to one another, we are all signs pointing to his glory.

What is the hope here? It is the hope of the kingdom. The King has come and sent his children to one another with his life-changing Word. People who were lost find their way; people once paralyzed with discouragement walk in hope; alienated people live in community as broken relationships are restored; confused minds think in ways that are true, pure and right; and the person who once lived for his own power now rests in God's. God's rain waters the roots of the heart, and the person's life bursts forth with new fruitfulness. This is the way of the Lord, the hope and work of his kingdom.

May His living water quench the parched terrain of your heart today!

In His grace,
Karen
Scripture Tableware