The word legacy does not necessarily appear in scripture, depending on the translation, but the concept does, usually in the word “inheritance,” as in Proverbs 13:22a NIV quoted in the title. With that indulgence, let’s explore what legacy means.

The legacy of God’s commandments

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 NIV

My maternal grandmother’s nursing rocker, a chair without arms so the mother’s arms protect babies’ soft spots. Perhaps my mother took the rocking chair from her childhood home in northern Maine after my grandfather died—two years before I was born—and the farm was sold. At any rate, rocker was among my first memories and is now a legacy that I received from my mother. 

There were rocking chairs in my father’s house, too; perhaps they reside with my Maine cousins or have gone the way of the trash heap. As for me, I received two prints of Oriental scenes from my paternal grandparents’ home, common and inexpensive the picture framer told me. But when I look at them, I see my grandmother’s love of beauty, a little exotic and winsome, in stark contrast to the reality of raising ten children on a hard-scrabble farm.

Tangible legacy things remind us of what the Lord requires of us: To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8b NIV. And my grandmothers’ legacies remind me of God’s commandment: Honor your father and your mother Exodus 20:12a NIV. As my parents honored theirs and my sisters and I took care of ours.

I did not consciously start walking the path of faith until I was in my early forties when my children were in grade school. But I’d like to think that they received this legacy of just and loving kindness for others while they were growing up. And that they pass that legacy along.

The legacy of God’s deeds, power, and wonders

We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. Psalm 78:4 NIV

My parents gave me a Hitchcock rocking chair for college graduation, a symbolic legacy I used to rock my daughter as here and my second child, too. Starting in the early 19^th century, Hitchcock chairs were manufactured in Riverton, Connecticut, the state where I grew up. Although the factory closed over a decade ago, that legacy continues through restoration, particularly of the beautiful, nature-themed stenciling. 

After Keith and I moved to Vanaprastha, our mountain home here in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, there wasn’t a good place for my rocking chair. So, when my daughter moved from Hong Kong back to the States, I offered her my legacy. She had a perfect spot for it, and a daughter of her own to rock.

Human deeds, such as furniture making, human power and wonders, all fall away with the passing of the generations. But the Lord’s praiseworthy deeds, His power and His wonders are omnipresent. A legacy of wisdom I hope for my descendants and all generations to come.

The legacy of reliable teachers

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 2 Timothy 2:2 NIV

A Boston rocker, given to me in honor of my fifteen years of service as chair of the Social Studies Department at Ursuline Academy of Dallas. I was first and foremost a teacher, hopefully a qualified and reliable one for the many students I got to teach during my thirty-four-year career. In truth, sometimes I was not just; sometimes I was not kind; and during many of those years, I did not walk humbly with God.

Today, the chair sits next to my desk—a place to put my purse and clothes needing to go to the cleaners. And yet that chair is a daily reminder to practice becoming a better version of myself—more just, kind, and humble—and encourage others to follow the path of Jesus, to ask for grace, mercy, and healing.

That chair reminds me that my mission in life has not ended, and for the sake of leaving this legacy to our children and our children’s children, I’d better get to it.

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