“A good life gets passed on to the grandchildren;
ill-gotten wealth ends up with good people.” Proverbs 13:22 The Message

The NIV of this verse reads, “A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children,
but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.” I don’t think that the word “inheritance” in this context means money or property. I think, as the message translation suggests, that a good person leaves an inheritance of their good life and legacy with their grandchildren. What a powerful thought. How you live your life is going to affect your family for generations to come. Not only through the grandchildren or, if you are really blessed, great-grandchildren that you meet in person, but also through the words and deeds you do that will get passed on through your family. It works this way for good things as well as bad things. If you do bad things with your life your family will have to pay the price for that for generations to come, but if you honor God with all you do then your family will be blessed through your life.

I have seen this to be true in the lives of my grandmother, who is now in heaven, and also my husband’s grandparents. We are blessed enough that my husband still has three of his four grandparents living. Our children are so blessed to be able to know their great grandparents. As they get older and their health begins to fail, I am reminded how blessed we are that they have all lived with such honor and reverence for God. My boys will remember their great grandparents, and their grandparents, as Godly men and women. And they will know their great-grandmother, my grandmother, as a Godly woman from the impact she had on my life. It is a blessing to have all these grandparents near us and we are so blessed to live close by. As we walk through the twilight years with them, I want to remember how blessed we are to have them and that they have lived to be such great examples for us. May we remember them as we live our lives and try to leave a Godly legacy behind for our children’s children.