In my hand was a yellowed packet of letters. The edges were worn, the ink on the outside nearly faded. The cultured manuscript belied their age. My Aunt Kathy was the ‘holder’ of the Brooks/Clark Family History. My Great Aunt Betty before her had handed it over, and now…. she was handing them to me.
Lately…I’ve been thinking about passing on truths to the next generation and about the responsibility I have to continue the work that was done in my life and the generations before me. The depth of this is enormous. It’s more than I can fathom and a bigger job than I realized when I was growing up. The weight of the envelopes in my possession reminds me. It is a bottomless well.
A few years ago, I heard a message regarding revival and spiritual truth. The word was regarding the starting of a great work in a church and the effort and sacrifice that went into the beginning of this movement. The author described years of heartbreaking prayer and suffering that preceded a miraculous new beginning. In this case, it was a tiny seed of faith in one individual who believed that God wanted to do a powerful work in the lives of this particular community. The unfolding of the answer did not come about in this prayer warrior’s lifetime but several generations later. The message I heard, described this preparatory time as a well that was being dug. Each generation that came after the previous one dug in that same well, a little deeper each time, until finally the people of the community were drinking freely from the rich life-giving water. The Holy Spirit flowed freely in the church, miracles occurred, lives were saved… all because of the fervent prayer of a single believer who could see with eyes of faith.
Since I heard that message, I have had time to ponder the wells that have been previously dug before me. In the churches that I attended it was plain to see that they were enjoying the fruit of a previous generation’s labor. Someone began to dig a well, looking for deep spiritual truth and life. The result of that work was a beautiful fellowship of families who loved Jesus and were sharing their faith in the community and beyond. I began to apply this in my family. Who were the ‘well diggers’ that I have to thank for my faith in God? I really didn’t know, beyond my parents.
After my dad passed away, as I looked through that aging packet of yellowed paper and beautiful manuscript, I found the answers to my questions.
My great-grandfather, John Brooks, who was like a father to my dad, had written a letter right after my dad had joined the Marine Corps. In this and the successive letters, these two men exchanged words of faith and encouragement that spoke volumes to the legacy that had been passed from one generation to another. Grandpa spoke of life and faith in God and of his fervent prayers for family and country and most especially for the welfare of my father going to war.
Here was a well that had been dug in our family! A deep, compassionate, powerful, praying man was my great grandfather, and he, and who knows how many before him, had ‘dug the well’ of faith and prayer; perhaps even praying for me, a generation after his grandson, my father!!
Think of it! Our families before us believed for our faith! I can only imagine who those warriors were! Did my great-great-great-grandmother pray me to life? My imagination runs away with me when I picture a tiny Irish woman kneeling in her garden, in Ireland, digging potatoes and praying for the faith in God to continue on after her through her great-great-great grandchildren!!!
“One generation shall praise Thy works to another and shall declare Thy mighty acts!” -Psalms 145:4
All my imaginings aside…but not really…I take this job of handing faith over to the next generation seriously. I see it as a great honor to be able to share my faith. I have five grand daughters and four grandsons that I want to see serving God and man with valiant and faithful hearts and strong minds and bodies. I pray for each of them daily and I see them as faithful servants of the Most High God. They will be healers, dancers, drummers, writers, warriors, wrestlers, runners, farmers, engineers, lawyers, leaders, preachers, and teachers in the Kingdom!
AND! I SEE their children and their grandchildren doing the most amazing and miraculous works!
“So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me until I proclaim Your might to another generation and Your power to all who are to come!” -Psalms 71:18