REFLECTIONS

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Back home—sometimes memories draw me to the place I grew up. Today fond memories show me how blessed my life has been. I don’t remember any other kind. I always felt love back home even in those occasional spankings when I misbehaved. And our daily routines there felt so natural. Each day Mom tailored breakfast to my tastes as they changed from time to time. We had dinner at noon and supper in the evening. Daddy wasn’t a breakfast eater, but for other meals the four of us were always together. I never imagined any other patterns of home before those sleepovers in the homes of my childhood friends.

Patterns were a bit different there. In our small country town, it was convenient for dads who worked in town to come home at noon; so, the dinner-supper pattern didn’t vary much from home to home. Daddy even found time for a quick nap before heading back to work. I did find differences in other practices though. The atmosphere of each home felt different—not bad, just different; baths were different, bedtime different, and meals were different. In one home I remember, it mattered whether the sandwiches were dressed with Kraft mayonnaise, and not salad dressing. But I don’t remember any of those homes without the presence of Jesus’ love. I think that reveals part of my blessed life too.

Home life in those early years shaped my view of how life is supposed to be. Hope is in it. And the similarities with the home lives of my childhood friends helps explain the closeness of our friendships these many years later. Still, home life differences, however small, shaped the differences in the homes we later formed for ourselves. But here’s the point.

Just as our lives were influenced by our childhood experiences, the home life we provide our children and our children’s children shapes the way they will view the world. And they will shape lives that follow them.

Someday when our children and grandchildren remember their days back home, I pray they will see God’s blessing there; and they will have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into his grace in which we now stand. And [they will] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Wouldn’t that be a satisfying legacy to leave in the world.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +www.reflectingthesavior.org

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