Monday, January 19, 2009

Heritage: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

There were some things leading up to Anna’s and my younger siblings' dread of the “H word” that I must admit I, and the siblings closer to me in age, had quite a bit to do with. Well, I would like to delve further into the daily living of the Many Meadows and tell you the prequel to her story, and how at times family life just wasn’t pretty!

 


Backtrack to this one night in particular which was also one of our normal “family nights“ that were incorporated through most of our years growing up. After my Dad finished the long-winded droning of blah, blah blah that happened MANY a time when he had us all sitting down, he asked us what he had just talked about. We all looked at each other baffled. “Oh crap, he’s never asked this before after these blabberings. Usually it’s just,  "Do you get that?" - and we would of course say, "Yes.”


 


None of us could recall any of what he was saying, and our attempts at guessing were getting him pretty heated. Well, this is where it got a little ugly. We were ordered to bed somewhat angrily!!! At 7:30 in the evening!!! And the next day when we were called together to discuss this event, and after getting grounded and lectured up and down, he again attempted to get his point across. I don’t know if we all got the gist of what he was saying even at that time, but we knew it was about heritage. Hence the dread of the “H word” was born, and many a time we would (somewhat) jokingly roll our eyes at the start of a yammering by Dad and say, “Oh no!  The H word!”, as in Anna’s story.


 


I will also say that I have been witness to my perfect parents being somewhat “imperfect” and that has become one of the values of the Meadows’ heritage in itself. My parents did not seek to pass down a heritage of human perfection, but one of strong Godly character. This one story is just a small glimpse into how our life really was. There were disobedient children, selfish teens, and yes, sometimes angry, frustrated parents, but the way the bad and ugly were dealt with and not hidden instilled yet another part of our Godly heritage.


 


And what means so much to me now is that I "get" heritage! No, I didn’t listen very well to all those lectures, but my Dad didn’t give up! And it’s a lot better that I remember that my Dad cared enough to sit down and talk with us about life, even if I was annoyed and didn’t always get what he was saying, than that he was some passive Dad who watched TV or worked all the time.


 


So your family life might have more bad and ugly than good, but are you still aggressively seeking to pass down a Godly heritage to your children? If you aren’t, then who will?


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Erin



 

 

 

 

 



4 comments:

  1. Well said! It seems to me your dad didn't just "talk" it, he lived it! Talking and living. Explaining over and over. Not quitting. That was a lot of hard work!

    Yep, as you know, we are working on it. To be completely honest it feels like it is all up hill. It is a lot of work. Breaking curses so there can be a heritage. At the end of the day, I'm honored & humbled that the Lord called me to this work. Very humbled!

    I'm thankful for the ground work your mom and dad laid. It's an example the Lord has placed right in front of me and Jonathan---I think it is the Lord saying look, it is hard & lots of work, but I'm right here and it is POSSIBLE!

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  2. I can't imagine any of you saying blah blah blah....and there was eye-rolling!!! From the Meadows kids.

    Just kidding.

    It is amazing the stuff we didn't want to listen to as kids that have a great impact to us as adults and parents. This has been so fun to read!

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  3. Thanks for for the nice post. I can tell you that you are blessed to have obviously been raised in a home with so much communication and such a strong family bond. I personally did not but I am indeed breaking the pattern and creating my own new heritage with my son and with my wife. I recognize that our lifetime is but a moment and we will never have these days again with our children. (Psalm 39:4-5)

    DONNA--Just recognizing the need to work on it and putting some effort that direction puts you miles ahead of most people. It sounds like you are on the right track!

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