Pondering a Legacy

 One of my hobbies is genealogy.  I enjoy tracing my heritage.  One thing that I love to look at is what is known about the individuals in my family tree.  It is interesting the things that you can learn.  One thing I especially like to look at is the faith and testimony of my ancestors.  There are a few that tend to stand out among the rest and are special to me because of this.  I want to share one of my favorites with you today because of his amazing legacy.

Here is an excerpt of a biographical sketch of one of my ancestors.

The priest at St. Joachim gave deposition that he was well acquainted with Charles Boyer and family, and noted Charles had ninety seven children and grandchildren living at Old Mines. He died in the late 1830s.
His wife lived on until 1858, and in her burial entry the priest noted “she left living, mostly in this parish (meaning St. Joachim at Old Mines) a posterity numbering four hundred souls.”

Washington County, MO Pioneer Families

This family was a strong Catholic family.  I come from a long line of Catholics on this side of the family.  It has been seven generations and some branches of the family remain in the Catholic church, others have become Protestant, and there are a few that show no signs of faith.  For the most part though faith in God continues.  That is what I find so fascinating!  This man must have been dedicated to raising his family in the church and to train them according to faith.  I am not debating here which faith is correct or saying that all they taught was Biblical or what I would teach my children.  I am not saying that simply raising your children within the church will guarantee their salvation.  I am in fact not even saying that this individual was saved by the grace of God.  What I am getting at is the importance and effect raising a child according to faith is and the impact it can have for generations to come. 

One thing that sticks out to me is the number of descendants left behind at their death.  When his wife passed on she had 400 descendants, 400!!  What an amazing blessing!  Look at how many lives they were able to touch, to mold, to share their faith and the love of the Lord with, how many other people were touched by their children to share!  What an impact! 

Often we hear about people wanting to leave a legacy but how often is that legacy about them? The legacy that this family left behind in my mind is one of faith and family!  Faith and family are blessings of the Lord.  I know from the records kept and the impact it has had on the generations of my extended family today that the faith of this one family was displayed because it has carried on for so many generations.  One thing that is dear to my heart is raising my children to be a heritage unto the Lord.   The legacy that I would want to leave behind in this world is not one that points to me but to the faithfulness of God. It is encouraging to know that this is something that was grasped long ago by another in my family line and I am benefited even today by that fact.

Deuteronomy 7:9

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations

What kind of legacy will you leave behind? 

Share your thoughts and add to the discussion!