Legacy

As I have been thinking about the legacy that Pete left our family in his involvement with the mission of the Singing Christmas Tree, it also made me think how that is just one small part of the strength of the legacy he has left our children and grandchildren as a man of God. He sought to live out these commandments in the Bible.

“Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37 – 39

 

Last Christmas with Pete's mom

 

Pete’s growth in the Lord took place over many years and his strength in his relationship with Jesus became sweeter and deeper as he grew older. As Thanksgiving approaches this week, it made me reflect on how thankful I am for our parents. We were both blessed to have been brought up by parents who loved the Lord and shared that love with us at a young age - helping us see the incredible need in our lives for our own relationship with Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Pete’s dad died when he was 15 so his mom continued to raise their three boys on her own….and if you know the Richards men, you can just imagine the challenge she had in raising those boys! Ha! She eventually remarried and welcomed two other children into her fold and the family grew even as she sadly lost her second husband a few years later. We still miss her but her influence lingers over our whole family!

                                                                   Pete's Dad

Even though Pete’s dad died when Pete was a young teenager, he would tell me what an influence he had on his life. Pete’s dad’s example of loving the Lord, loving his mom, loving the church, loving and working with teenagers in the youth department and working hard in life made an impression that was never forgotten. His mom’s continued love and example of finding strength in the Lord did not waver; so even as Pete sometimes “rebelled” in his younger years against the realization of the importance of his walk with God, it was deeply instilled in his life and he came back to knowing his “home base” was in the church serving the Lord he loved and sharing Christ through all kinds of mission opportunities both local and abroad.    

                                                                         My Dad and Mom

I, too, was blessed with incredible parents. My parents have always been that strong lighthouse in the surf for me. My dad is a retired preacher and my mom has always served right beside him in ministry.  Early on, I witnessed the strength that comes from a personal relationship that was built in thankfulness for the Lord and the grace and forgiveness that comes in Jesus. Their example of loving the Lord and loving others was ingrained in my heart from my earliest memories and continues today.

Pete and I also saw in both of our parents the joy that comes from serving together in the Lord’s work. We quickly realized we were like minded about wanting to serve Him together and so sought opportunities to do so. The Lord gave us the blessing of being able to invest in lives of young men and women both as a couple and one on one. We have always been thankful for those times and often said we have been blessed more than we possibly could have blessed them. A few of the young people we have met with over the years sometimes lamented that they did not have a Christian role model in their own parents so did not know what it “looked like” to have a Christian marriage of love and mutual respect or how to raise their own children with the Lord’s guidance. Many of them were new Christians in their marriage. What a joy it always was and still is to assure them that God would give them wisdom as they sought Him, to share with them that they could begin a new way of raising a family and become that example in their own children’s lives, to encourage them that their lives would be enriched by older men and women in the church family.

Pete’s legacy is set. His physical presence in our lives is over but the strength of the example he left will continue to be passed down from our children to their children to their children. Now, it is up to me to continue to build on the strength of what God has done in my life all these years, on the love and example of our marriage, on the sweetness of the relationships I have with our children and grandchildren and extended family, on the gifts of my friendships, on the importance of my witness in my neighborhood and on life in my city, on the abilities and skills He has given me so that I can connect with others in the US and overseas in hopes of sharing that my love and peace comes from my relationship with Christ. My legacy is still being built.. Lord, help me leave a strong legacy that points only to You!  Thank you for the gift of Pete's legacy! Thank you for the legacy you gave both of us through our parents!

“I will praise You, my God and King, and bless Your name each day and forever. Great is Jehovah! Greatly praise Him! His greatness is beyond discovery! Let each generation tell its children what glorious things He does. I will mediate about Your glory, splendor, majesty and miracles. Your awe-inspiring deeds shall be on every tongue. I will proclaim Your greatness.” Psalms 145:1-6

What kind of legacy are you leaving?