Our Spiritual Heritage
We have been traveling to Texas for our Granddaughter’s 16th birthday party. My husband only had 96 hours of vacation left so this trip is going to be fast and furious! We made it down here in 20 hours of straight through driving, only to stop and fuel when needed. We had made reservations at our favorite place to stay, called “THE PEACH TREE INN AND SUITES” in Fredericksburg, Texas. It is a quaint place with a wonderful homey feeling, and reasonable prices. It is owned by a local family, who’s ancestors immigrated here from Germany in the early 1850’s and have stayed ever since. The Texas Hill country is home to them, and they go out of their way to make you feel at home here also. The Harvey Treibs family has been running this establishment since its conception in the early 1940’s. They are the eighth generation from the one of the founding father’s of the town of Fredericksburg. The INN is clean, neat and well maintained, and we love to stay here. I am sure their ancestors would be very proud of how they have kept the family’s name in good standing in the community, and in business. It is a wonderful heritage that has been passed down, and continue to pass down today to the newest generation.
Why is a person’s heritage so important to people? Well, it gives them a feeling of belonging, roots if you will, a place of beginnings. Why do people pass down family stories, pictures and legacies? So we know where we come from, and who we were, and are today. Just as the Israelites were told to teach their children about their captivity in Egypt, and rescue by Moses, under the direction of God, so they would know they were a God-fearing nation, and are never to forget that!
So what kind of heritage are you passing down to the next generation? Do you live in a God-fearing house? Do you honour God by going to church on Sunday, or reading your Bible daily? How do you relate to the heritage your ancestors left you, by improving on what they started, or making the name you carry an embarrassment?
As parents we are instructed in the Bible what to teach our children and why. What kind of job are you doing in that regard? Do you mull over old family photos so your children have a sense of who they are? Do you study the pages of the Bible with them so they know they can be a part of the family of God? What heritage are you leaving behind for the next generation to sift through?
We as authors, often use the history of family ties to unwrap the mystery of how our hero or heroine got to the place they are, or help them understand why they are the way they are. In real life, who you are should not be a mystery, after all, we are not bits of flotsam that washed up on the beach somewhere. We all have a beginning, and we will all have an end. What will be the heritage you leave behind, will God be any part of it?
“The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.”
Psalms 16:6
“The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.”
Isaiah 38:19
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
Hebrews 12:1
“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.”
Psalms 127:3
Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.
Psalms 119:111
And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever:”
Psalms 136:21