This Old Barn

“The virtues you teach your children will be your most important legacy." ~ Deuteronomy 6:7

It didn’t put up much of a fight; it must have felt resigned to cessation.  I stood among a small crowd of onlookers who gathered to watch an excavator pull down the towering structure.

It stood majestic in its day – but icy winds and the scorching sun assaulted the old barn until the paint’s all gone and the wood turned silver grey.  The structure itself has far less value today, but what it stood for remains more important than ever. 

Despite missing windows and a rusted roof, it’s memories will forever radiate a cozy presence warmed by the nostalgia of horses chewing hay, kids discovering new adventures, and five 100W bulbs strung along its beams.

Our pioneer ancestors often put more immediacy in getting a barn built than a house.  As the old saying went, there were a lot of barns that paid for a house . . . but few houses ever paid for a barn.

If you know how to listen, a barn is happy to tell you its story.  It will gladly reveal its approximate age and the ethnicity of those who built it.  It can tell you what it was used for and how the barn’s owners adapted to economic challenges over time.  If you’re really good, it can tell you whether the person who carved the beams was left or right-handed.   

I dabbed a thick tear from the corner of my eye.  Even though it’s gone now, I’ll always find comfort in the legacy it left for me – solid, protective, self-sufficient - a beacon of significance.

Old barns are like people in many ways.  They’re strong and sturdy at first but, as they weather time, they begin to fall apart.  We age into rustic grey, and lean a lot more than we used to.  And someday, we too will be nothing more than distant memories.

Life brings many changes our way, some good and some not.  It’s how we react and accept these changes that make us or break us.  God uses the hard winters of our lives, the dry spells, and the stormy seasons, to test our faith and inspire those we will eventually leave behind.     

What kind of legacy will you leave?  Will it be enduring?  Or will you leave behind only tangible things – money and/or possessions?

You have probably heard the saying, “more is caught than taught.”  If you want your children to be truthful, then you need to be honest.  If you want them to serve others, let them see you serving.  If you want them to have an authentic relationship with Jesus, show them what that looks like in your life.

Heavenly Father, like an old barn, You called me to leave a legacy by building Your truth into the next generation.  Help me invest all You’ve graciously given me in the lives of others so that I will live humbly and wisely; not foolishly and selfishly.  Amen