What did you inherit from your father, mother, or both of them? I imagine some are saying vehicles, house, land, and other miscellaneous things. You may be thinking about hair, eyes, face, body shape. My question is based on “What have we really inherited from our parents?” My Dad passed away three years ago this November. I still have my mother.
Before I go any further I feel like I need to preface this post with I have two parents that I could not have chosen better if God gave me the chance to pick from the world in my opinion. I also want you to know I am sorry if you have had bad experiences from your parents. This is why I count it a privilege and honor to have been blessed with good parents – not rich possessions, but in character. I encourage you to open your mind and heart to some good things that can be born inside of you making a better tomorrow for you and your children. You can make a good difference and pass it on.
I was riding my motorcycle on a beautiful Monday afternoon through the rolling hills and mountains enjoying the warm breeze, blue skies with a few neatly shaped clouds when a thought came to me of “What did I truly inherit from my Dad?” I cycled in my mind different things as I mentioned in the beginning. I began to form a check list. My Dad is not a vehicle that I can inherit. It is a form of transportation. My Dad is not a house that I can inherit. It is a place that keeps you dry from the rain, warm against the cold, and cool from the heat. A structure built for physical protection. My Dad is not the clothes that I may inherit for they were for his daily events. The check list kept growing in my mind with the same answer that they were only the things my Dad used to work with daily as all others use and do the same with, but still they were not truly my Dad. I appreciate the things and the memories attached to the physical objects my Dad had, but there is much more to see past the surface than physical things.
My mind and heart began to focus on then “What did I truly inherit from my Dad?” The first answer that came to me was “Memories”. Memories are physically seen by others. Behind my face invisible to others a memory of my Dad can be unfolding in my mind with the emotional effects coursing through out my physical system. The movie pictures in my head of the times we did things together, and conversations, witnessing him interacting with others was one of my inheritances. I began to search “Were there any more things I truly inherited from him?” The check list began to fill up again with the true inheritance I had within me. It was like the sunshine on the outside and the warm breeze from riding my motorcycle began to shine and blow inside my spirit. I then saw within me I had inherited some of my Dad’s ethics and integrity. It is hard to describe, but confidence and a feeling of soundness began to form inside me. I had inherited some of the characteristics of strength I use to look up at my Dad as a small child. The invincible and towering Dad I had grown up with as a child. I know he was not perfect and I know that I am not perfect, but he gave me a blue print to build upon from his character to make a better person within me.
What I have truly inherited from my Dad is the memories and characteristics that no physical object can outlast. He is alive in me through his living example I absorbed as a child, a portion from him on a daily basis. A car will break down, a house will fall, clothes will fade and money will be spent, but in the end it will be the things I have within me that I have truly inherited from my Dad and my Mother. Our spirit within us is the true inheritance.
Now, the next blog to think about would be “How do we pass on the inward inheritance to our children?” Have a great day in-spite of what comes your way.
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