I've been studying inheritance - in a biblical context - and I've been thinking...What have I inherited from the people who have gone before me?
Okay, so here's where I have a choice. I can list the woes, baggage, and wounds (and believe me when I say there are days I want to sit in the middle of the muck and make grand creations out of it), or I can pull up my feet, even if my shoes get left behind, and walk away on more solid ground on paths that take me somewhere.
As I walk onward and look around, here's what I see.
From my parents...unconditional love, confidence to dream big, and permission to be imperfect yet significant in my own parenting.
From friends through the years...ability to say goodbye, comfort of being cared for when I refused to care for myself, and assurance that rejection leads to opportunity.
From strangers and people of brief encounters...freedom to explore and grow and well-timed encouragement and assistance.
What have you inherited from others? What building blocks of yesterday are under your feet today? What tools do you carry around with you daily because they were generously shared with you?
Inheritance is more than what you have in your hands today. It's where you've been and where you're going. It's your territory. God-given. We live on earth, where humans mess up all the time, so our God-given territory is thorny, muddy, rocky. But it's also fruitful, fragrant, gorgeous.
We can choose to deny anything beautiful exists within the boundaries of our inheritance. We can choose to deny anything ugly exists within the boundaries of our inheritance. What we choose to believe about our inheritance doesn't change the reality.
We give an inheritance to others every day in how we invest in people with our actions and attitudes. Inheritance isn't about what we give after we die. Inheritance is now. Today.
What will you give to others today? What building blocks will you carefully place under someone's feet to encourage them on tomorrow's journey? What tools will you generously share with someone today so she has what she needs on her journey through the thorny, fruitful, muddy, fragrant, rocky, gorgeous territory that is her inheritance?
We have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 1 Peter 1:4 (NLT)
