Week 31 --- Isaiah 26:3

You will keep in perfect peace her whose mind is steadfast,
because she trusts in you.

I spent the summer studying the book of Ruth, and while I walked away with so many encouraging thoughts, I think the most impactful idea the author pitched out was that of legacy.

What legacy are we leaving to those who go through life with us and after us?

I love flowers. I've always been intrigued by how they combine to make something bigger, and how they're not just aesthetically pleasing, but they smell good, and just have a value attached to them. If you get flowers, it's usually something special. I started designing in college and have tried to stay in practice ever since. 

Last summer I was visiting my Great-Aunt Rachel and she was asking if I still did work with flowers. I told her yes, and she disappeared from the room and came back with a tattered box that had a pair of early 1900's floral shears. She told me that my great grandmother loved to arrange flowers and had won several ribbons at the county fair for her floral arrangements. She would even teach other women to design flowers and had written lots of notes on things she had learned about arrangements. Rachel said it seemed right that I have the scissors. 

This last week we celebrated Rachel's 90th birthday. For the celebration, I used her mother's floral shears to make her a birthday flower arrangement. I feel like I need to note that I could not find this "heirloom family treasure" the morning I went to use them. Seriously. Gone. I turned my apartment upside down looking for the "safe place" I knew I had put them so they wouldn't get lost. I debated how bad it would be to use regular scissors and just say I used the special shears. I found them. Praise the Lord! Rachel was so blessed by the flowers, but mostly by her mother's legacy continuing on in some way I think. I never met my great grandmother but I like to think that some of the things that come naturally to me are a small part of her. 

I got to thinking about the legacy the women in my family have handed down to me. I come from a line of tough stock. My mom is the most kind, genuine woman you will ever meet, but she stands for what she believes in and is absolutely unyielding in the things that really matter.

My Grammer Kathy forgave more than anyone I've ever known. Her mother had a nervous breakdown when she was a young girl and sent her children away to live with other people. My Grandma found her mother later on in life and cared for her until the day she died. The woman who gave her up when she was a kid, she loved and forgave.

My Grandma IJ passed away when I was super young, but anytime I go to a family gathering, people tell me how crazy my grandma was about me. It makes me smile thinking about it. She could make you feel special and she did it up right. Anytime my mom and I shop and I debate buying ALL the accessories to an outfit, my mom says that's what your grandma IJ would do, go for it! My grandpa sometime asks me, you don't remember your grandma that much do you? I always tell him I do.  

I also know that the women in my family have been plagued by worry, anxiety, insecurity and dysfunctional communication. We make worry a sport in my family. We hold things in and try to make sure we always have a happy face. I've really tried to think about the generational sins that have been consistent, and how that can stop with me. I refuse to let Satan continue to exist in my family through crap like that.

So back to the book of Ruth ---- how does that tie to legacy? Well let me show you :)

Here is an exerpt of the lineage of Christ in the beginning of the book of Matthew: 

Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife,

Please note the 4 women who made it onto this list. A traditonal record of males, yet this list shows 4 women who impacted history and were a part of the lineage of Christ. Tamar was a woman who was wronged by her husband and dressed as a prostitute to trick her father in law into sleeping with her to produce an heir. Rahab was a foreigner and a prostitute who gave aid to Israelite spies. Ruth was a foreigner and a widow who layed at a man's feet when she was not married to him. Uriah's wife was Bathsheba who slept with a man that was not her husband.

What we have here is some serious imperfection folks. And I think it's interesting that they are all similar in that they pursued sexual sin. These are women who messed it up big time. I fully believe that it was not God's plan for any of these women to sleep with relatives, or cheat on husbands --- but God's redeeming love and power covers those sins and uses those experiences to create the lineage of Christ. That's the gospel of Jesus and that's a picture of hope my friends.

My verse this week is the legacy I want to leave. I want to overcome anxiety with peace, I want a mind that is focused on Jesus, and I want to be remembered as someone who trusts regardless of circumstance. His word promises that He'll do that for us!