Legacy

“I need no mansion here below for Jesus said that I must go to a home beyond the clouds not made with hands” (C.S. Grogan).

Minister Quentin Koehn said that this song stayed with him during the time of my dad’s passing. It’s fitting for the legacy Dad left us. My mind wanders back to an old two-story farmhouse. I would climb steep, narrow stairs and walk through my brothers’ bedroom to get to my room with its flowered wallpaper and a south window that overlooked the lilac bushes in the backyard.

There was the barn, ramshackle chicken houses, multiple wood sheds, and grain bins. Dad converted one of the buildings into a place to raise rabbits. The wood storage bins made excellent jail rooms when we played cops and robbers. (Locked up, you smelled the old grain.) I spent hours in the barn with my kittens after I found them in some dark space. Though not rich in earthly goods, I had the best of childhoods.

The time came for folks to retire and move to town. My parents’ home in Halstead is a simple one where love dwells and the front porch is made for sitting on.   Dad left his “no mansion here below” for a “home beyond the clouds” on July 5.

In the week after Dad’s passing, the table stretched to hold family and friends. Great-grandchildren spilled into the living room or onto the porch. The kitchen overflowed with people involved in food preparation.  Groups crowded together to fill the house with singing. There wasn’t room or luxury, but love spilled into all corners of the simple home that Dad purchased. Dad often commented on how he’d been blessed beyond his expectations.

This morning, as I reflect on my heritage,  Hebrews 13:5 comes to me, “Be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Dad left me a rich legacy.

Berniece