Nearing Home - Billy Graham [44]
What a privilege we have to prepare the way for those who are watching. Do we really take this to heart? We are allowing Satan to snuff out our influence by making us think that no one really cares. In writing this book, I was given comments that were found on a blog from young people discussing the difference between the young and old generations. It stated, “We need both generations in society for what they contribute. The younger one questions, challenges, and sparks change; the older one puts on the brakes sometimes, providing the wisdom of experience [that can help us make wise decisions for our lives].”3
While this may not represent all younger generations, it does reveal that not all of them resist hearing from their elders. The question we are faced with is, are we shunning the opportunities that come our way to be an influence for good, or are we being irresponsible in our encounters with those who may take to heart what we have to contribute? The Bible instructs generations to pass on what has been learned. Our youth need to say with the psalmist,
We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us,
The deeds You did in their days,
In days of old. (Psalm 44:1 NKJV)
Long after you are gone, what will your children and grandchildren remember about you? Sometimes the elderly miss their opportunities. They are too engrossed in their ailments and can be solely responsible for running people off—even grandchildren.
Some time ago a young man wrote to me and said, “I wish I could say I have good memories of my grandmother, but all I remember about her is that she seemed very old, and she was always grumbling and complaining about everything.” Another wrote, “My grandfather always made our visits fun, but after we left we would never hear from him.” A disheartened daughter stated, “My parents are so wrapped up in themselves that all they’ve been interested in since they retired is having a good time. I wonder if I’ll be like that when I get older. I hope not.”
I hope not, too, because this is not the way God wants us to spend our latter years. Complaining, being unengaged or self-indulgent—what kind of impression are these attitudes sure to make on those who follow us? What will they remember about us if we are like this? More important, what do these attitudes teach them about life and how it ought to be lived? The answer is: very little, and nothing that is good.
But God doesn’t want us to waste our latter years or spend them in superficial, meaningless pursuits. Instead He wants us to use them in whatever ways we can to influence those who will come after us. God wants us to finish well—and one of the ways we do this is by passing on our values and our faith to those who will follow us.
LEAVING A LEGACY
Our children are not like computers; we can’t program them so they will always do exactly what we want them to do or turn out exactly the way we wish they would. It is one of life’s mysteries: two children can be brought up in the same family and in the same way yet turn out to be exact opposites as they grow older. Parents know every child is different, and even with the best training, some children may reject our efforts to guide them. The best we can do is provide the right environment—love them and train them and pray for them and provide them the tools they will need to make wise decisions as they grow older. We do this both by our teaching and by our example—in other words, both by what we say and by what we do.
As parents we have a direct influence on our children; later on our influence on our grandchildren probably will be much less direct. Sometimes this isn’t the case, of course;