The Widow Woman’s Legacy

As we near the end our the walk with this precious Widow Woman, perhaps this is the most important aspect of her life and of ours, her legacy.  Remember, we are talking about attitudes in this lady’s life that are attractive to God, and this is a powerful one.
I am sure as a parent she looked at her little boy and felt an overwhelming responsibility to do whatever it took to give him the very best.
Sometimes in life for many different reasons, we can fall into valleys that seem so deep there is no way out.  We look up and see the light but the climb is just too high and too difficult.  It will take more energy and more courage than we can give.  But maybe just like this widow lady, we can have a deep look at the ones we love so much.  When we can’t find strength to go forward for ourselves, we are driven by this love for others.  This love energizes us in a powerful, passionate way to make the climb and rebuild.
It changes the legacy we leave from someone who stayed in a valley of despair to someone who climbed the mountain to victory.  The very people who will live in our victory are the ones we loved enough to climb for.
The children of God when they came to the promised land said it was too hard.  They were battle weary, life tired and defeat had pierced their hearts.  They decided against going forward and we read later that Joshua led the next generation in to possess this very land the older had walked away from.
The tragedy here was that the legacy the older ones left to the younger, was battles not fought and victories not claimed.
This a cute story but illustrates a point.  When my son was small he woke me up one night to tell me there was a big spider in his room.  Now, I don’t like spiders at all, especially trying to chase one.  It can jump on me or even bite.  I prefer to keep a great deal of distance between me and all spiders, especially big ones.  But seeing my young son in fear of this insect, I immediately grew to about 10ft tall and walked in to his room like the great spider hunter.  After a while, I caught it and destroyed it.  He went back to bed in peace and I returned to keeping my distance from spiders.  When it comes to people we love, we are stronger for and find courage that we did not think we had.
For all of us, life is about passing victory and value onto the younger generation.  This widow lady, because she did not quit, gave her son an opportunity to live.  In doing this, she produced generations of life and she would be remembered as the one who never gave up.
Whether we are parents or not, there are many people in our world whose future is impacted by our decision to climb.  The greatest medicine for victory now is our love for future generations.  We are driven by the need to see them win.  In this amazing picture, we all win by becoming the strength and courage for each other.
Like the widow woman, the future generations are looking to us to “make the climb to victory”
God Bless you.

Audio Version