Sunday Afternoon Tea - Raising the Remnant

My original five beautiful brilliant amazing grandchildren.

Recently I was watching the Franklin Springs DVD called Inherit the Land.  I hadn't watched it in ages, feeling perhaps it didn't apply to me anymore as I was no longer homeschooling... and I obviously do not live an agrarian lifestyle. But there was something within that pulled me back, causing me to want to watch the stories again.  Perhaps they do apply.  Even now.

The combined stories take less than an hour to tell but each one is the story of a family who made the decision to raise their children to love their God, their families, and the land.  Most were full time farmers or ranchers but a couple families were content to just grow most of the food they ate.  One of the latter two families was The West Ladies, whose DVDs so many of us enjoy.

There comes a time after the children are grown and raising their own families that one begins to forget their own decisions made at the beginning... perhaps even before the first child was born.  Watching the DVD... for some reason this time... caused me to recall how important it was to their father and me that they be raised mostly to love the Lord and to follow Him.

There came a time when I realized my mother's resistance to "church" was most likely due to the legalistic approach of many around her as she grew up.  I was always wary of my children viewing a walk with God as a set of rules.  No one ever fell in love with rules or a Book about rules.  One falls in love with a Person.

So there was an honest attempt to live in such a way that Jesus was very real in our lives, not a 2,000 year old story but living today.  Not as a set of do's and don'ts but as one we come to love and want to honor by living the life He wants us to live... then the do's and don'ts fall into place.

As I watched the families working together, I recalled the importance I placed on my children learning to love and appreciate the Beauty God has given us, even in this most fallen of worlds.  To learn to love real Beauty and not what the world says is beautiful, which sometimes can be the same and at other times is totally the opposite of God's idea of Beauty.

It was important to me that, at age appropriate stages, they understand there was a universal war between good and evil.  That the world's ways are easy and that road is wide and to choose Christ is to choose the narrow road... often going against the flow of society.

I think they were taught that to walk with Christ means you have to be brave.  To be people of honor.  To be people of integrity.  To be people determined to run the race without giving up.  To remain strong in their beliefs when even close friends may scoff at their decisions.  Sometimes the scoffing comes from Christians.

It was while watching the stories that it came to me.  I was raising the Remnant... or at least I had hoped and prayed they would be the Remnant as they grew up... those people who choose to live a life to honor God's Word instead of watering it down and giving into the ways of the world.

Piper at two months

My family is far from perfect.  I am far from perfect.  That sound you hear is my family agreeing to that with a loud "Amen!".  But the two households birthed from this one are everything I prayed for and more... for when one is raising their own children it is not easy to envision what the grandchildren will be like.  Amazing children.  Brilliant children.  Beautiful children.  But I digress...

I totally love both of my kids-in-law, the two I prayed for along with my own children since they were tiny.  I love their parents.  I love sharing the role of grandparent with their parents.   None of us perfect.  Far from it.  But Jesus is perfect.  When we lead our children and our grandchildren to Him, our own imperfections fade.

Recently, as I was reading the Word, I felt as if God was asking me if there was anything my soul desired... if there was anything I wanted.  I thought for awhile and told Him that I have everything I want.  There is nothing more I need.

How can I say this with all the health problems and financial issues and craziness that goes on around me?  My only request of Him so long ago was that I be faithful in raising children to love Him and walk the journey He has given each of them to walk.  Faithfully.  Beyond that... everything else is extra.

So... what if your family has strayed from that path?  I absolutely believe that there is no greater power on earth than the prayers of one who loves mightily and never gives up.  I have family members I'm still praying into the Kingdom. As long as there is breath, there is hope.  Some of the remnant are prayed in.  I know I was.

Further information on Inherit the Land can be found... here.*

*Most links to Amazon.com are Associate Links.  I thank you.