Leave a Legacy of Joy

             Have you had your Joy Juice today?  Do you remember when you drank it more faithfully?

             It seems they older we get, the more often we find ourselves asking, “Do you remember when?” Maybe we are referring to the prices of groceries, the styles of the cars or clothes, the lack of some of our modern conveniences.  Even so……often when we refer to the “good old days”,  we have a smile on our face in regard to special memories.

             My parents shared many stories of the hardships they faced as children growing up in The Great Depression….yet many of those tales were told with laughter and joy.  The jewel of truth that I gleaned from those stories was that material things were not what was important. It was the love that their family shared.  Even in the difficulties, because there was love….they knew everything was going to be okay.  I’m speaking of love for family, but even more importantly, the love of God.

            When parents teach their children to trust in the love of God at all times and in all situations, they are passing along a gift that will continue to grow in value as the years pass by…A legacy that can be handed down from generation to generation.  I like to call it a “Legacy of Joy”.

            Are you teaching your young ones to put their trust in material things and pleasures that the “world” can provide temporarily? OR are you bringing them up in the love and wisdom of God’s Word?  Proverbs 22:6 tells us:  “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  KJV

            Let’s remember to leave a legacy of JOY in the Lord.