On this final Lenten Restoration posting, I am filled with joy at the preparation for Easter our family celebrated yesterday making break, resurrection cookies, and sharing stories of Easter and God’s provisions for our family. Rightly, “Legacy” is the next to the last poem in my book “Restore My Soul: A Lenten Journey” and perhaps the most important one. As we worshiped together last night on Good Friday, we reflected on what the disciples must have felt that evening, with their hopes dashed, felling abandoned, feeling the effects of God’s wrath on the fallen world. But without their testimony, boldness, and hard work, the church would not have survived. Easter happened, and how in the words of Avery and Marsh, “Every Morning is Easter Morning!” I pray my grandchildren and theirs, should the Lord not return before that, will echo that message long after I’m singing it in heaven. Happy Easter, and tell the story to your children and their children. It is a marvelous legacy worth more than estates and earthly trappings.
MY PSALM 343 LEGACY
Everlasting Father, Eternal and Omnipotent,
Hear our prayer for our children.
You promised to be our God
If we would be Your covenant people.
You told us to write Your words on the doorposts
Of our homes, and on our hearts.
You taught us to speak of them to our children,
When we rose up, when we went upon our way,
When we made our beds in various places,
Your truth on our tongues and in our lives.
Father, we ask forgiveness
For the times busyness has taken over our lives.
We have turned from Your ways
And followed our guidance rather than Yours.
We have mixed up our priorities
And trusted in our wisdom,
Seeking Yours only when things go awry
Or we see our shortcomings.
This day we pray for our children,
The legacy You have provided through Your mercy,
The next generation who will take up Your cause
And live for Your kingdom’s sake
On earth as it is in heaven.
Find us faithful in petition for their souls,
For You gave our children to us
For such a short time
But for eternity for You.
In the twinkling of an eye
They too have become parents,
Teaching their little ones to love You,To feast on Your Word,
To dwell in the walls of our tabernacles
And be surrounded by Your clouds of witnesses
As we have been.
Help us to be constant in prayer for their tasks
To buttress their efforts,
To walk humbly before You
In the wisdom of years,
Knowing the awesome task set before them.
Use us in preparing the generations
To march on to victory,
Ever proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ
To an ever-changing world.
Teach us so we can teach them
To rely only upon Your grace
To speak of You often
Instilling Your precepts
And marking the narrow road
Which leads to Your throne,
For You are the answer to life’s questions
And the eternal Truth which provides
The peace that passes all understanding.
You have told us our grandchildren
Are the crowns of our grey hairs,
And we dedicate them to Your care
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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