This past Sunday, our pastor shared that he had just met his brand-new baby granddaughter that week! He then shared a few words about legacy and generation. To sum it up, these were the thoughts he shared:
* If we want legacy, we must be willing to put up with disruption. Because children are disruptive to our plans, to our schedules, to our sense of “control.”
* If we want legacy, we must be willing to put up with mess. Because children bring mess and a certain amount of chaotic confusion.
* If we want legacy, we must be willing to put up with noise. Because children are loud and noisy.
* If we want legacy, we must be willing to put up with boundless energy and enthusiasm. Because children are full of boundless energy and enthusiasm for the world around them!
* If we want legacy, we must be willing to put up with spontaneity. Because children are spontaneous!
Our pastor shared that this not only applies to parents and grandparents, but also to churches as well.
If we want legacy in our churches, we must be willing to put up with the disruption of our perfectly controlled traditions, as the next generation rises up with boundless energy and enthusiasm to take their place in the world!
If we want legacy in our churches, we must be willing to put up with the mess and noise of little children running around our church, bringing the type of chaotic confusion only children can.
The next day, after hearing our pastor’s words, I went out to the garden to pick some raspberries. I hadn’t been out there in over a week, and I was surprised how the new growth was branching out and growing at a 90* angle from the parent vines … spreading all across the berry garden.
It was a mess … as you can see.
I immediately thought about legacy. All that new growth of scraggly messy vines spreading out across the berry garden … it’s those vines which are going to produce raspberries next year!
Because only two-year old raspberry canes produce berries. This is the first year for these new vines … and next year they will bear fruit.
This right here is such a beautiful picture of what our pastor had just shared about legacy. When it comes to church, this right here is what it looks like when the young adults of the next generation start branching out to take their place in this world!
As a gardener, my first instinct might be to go grab my pruners and prune off those scraggly, reaching, ever-stretching new raspberry canes which are branching out sideways all over the place and making a mess of the whole garden. After all, that’s not how the garden is supposed to look! The garden is supposed to be neat and tidy!
When hubby and I were in the young adult stage of life, we had just graduated from college and were enthusiastic newlyweds excited to take on the world! Every attempt we made to get involved at church and serve at church was met with “pruners.”
In fact, at that stage in life, our entire generation was met with heavy-handed “pruners” by very religious people who were uncomfortable with the “mess” and “change” the younger generation was bringing to the “garden.” Traditions mattered above all else! The “garden” must not change! Well-established “control” must not be questioned.
All the new growth was pruned off!
What happens when you prune off all the growth of the next generation??
There are no berries next year.
This is what happened to mine and hubby’s entire generation. Our entire generation was “pruned off” by very religious people who were attempting to keep the “garden” “perfect.” And to this day, Gen X is absent from the church.
So … if the new raspberry canes are the key to the harvest next year, what do you do with all that enthusiastic new growth and mess??
You gently lift it up off the ground (raspberry canes can’t produce if they are all over the ground … they need support!).
The next generation needs support!! They don’t need pruners.
In my garden, I gently lifted the newly growing raspberry canes up off the ground, and I swung them over to grab onto the support of the sturdy metal wires already in place. The thing about raspberry canes is that the texture of the vines and leaves is such that they will naturally “grab” onto other raspberry vines and leaves. It’s like nature’s velcro!
The new growth just needed some old growth to grab onto!
The old growth, which has just finished producing berries for this year, is solidly wrapped and growing around the study metal wires and support structure.
The new growth just needs to “grab onto” the old growth, which is already sturdy!
It’s easy for the new growth to “grab onto” the old growth because merely the vines or leaves simply touching will “catch” and hold the new growth up.
It doesn’t take a lot. The new growth just needs to be in contact with the old growth … and they will “catch” and be held up.
This right here is the picture of legacy! This is the picture of legacy not only in our personal families, but in churches as well!
The next generation (the young adults launching out into the world to take their place!) needs the older generation to “grab onto”!
To be sure, the new vines will be doing their own work to produce berries for next year. The older vines can’t do that work for them. But the older vines can “train” the younger vines how to grow by supporting them and “holding them up”!
This right here is what legacy is all about!
It’s not about “pruning off” the next generation because they are making our neat, tidy garden “messy” or uncomfortable.
It’s about coming alongside!
It’s about being in contact with!
It’s about supporting!
This is legacy! This is healthy growth! This is a future harvest!
