being home and slightly anti-social, i've been spending a lot of time chatting with my mom. tonight, she told me all about her side of the family. i was surprised and amazed to find out that my grandfather had lived in japan for a while, that he had been a judge in china and that after the communists took over, he fled to hong kong, where he wrote books teaching people the japanese language. i also found out that my grandfather had actually been sent to japan by china as a group of elite students to study there. and other than japanese, he was also fluent in english, and he studied german and russian. it turns out that my mother's side of the family was intellectually brilliant.
last year, while talking to my father, i learned that my dad's side of the family was very skilled in business. my grandfather on my dad's side owned a huge business in thailand, which my uncles took over.
and then i thought, here were two huge families, both very successful in the worlds' eyes, meeting at my parents, both the youngest of their families, and boiling down to me. while i'm a little overwhelmed and honoured to have such established family histories, it occurred to me that even though i have no super intellect or extreme money (or any money, really), what i possess is far greater than all of their legacy combined. because what i own is spiritual wealth, which is eternal and unfading in glory. my one grandfather's books have all been lost now and my other grandfather's riches will lose its value, but what i have now in Jesus Christ will last forever.
on a side note, finding out about my family's link with the japanese people is amusing because in it, i can trace the finger of God and how He prepared me to go there. my ties with japan began way before i was ever born!
I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I honour You enough?
To make a mark on things
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace
Who blessed You unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy
~Nichole Nordeman, Legacy
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
~Psalm 139:16~
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