“You have carried your burdens
You have carried them long
Go give them to Jesus
He is loving and strong
Go tell him your troubles
Your burdens will ease
He will fill up your soul
With a heavenly peace.”

*Grandma Lillie*

This quote above is one that I found in the bible of my great-great grandmother, Lillie Patterson. While I was at home last weekend, I needed a bible to reference for a paper. I had left mine at school, so my grandmother told me to use Grandma Lillie's. I had never seen it before. It was tucked carefully away in my Papa's dresser. I took one look at the bible and was in awe--it was over 100 years old. It was a bit torn and tattered, but you could tell it had always been handled with love. As I flipped through its pages, I noticed that Grandma Lillie had underlined several verses and placed some papers throughout the pages. I found poems she had written, articles about God she had kept, a card from her daughter, and several words of wisdom. I have always been into geneology and my great-aunt has traced the McClaflin family back to very early days, but never had I known the faith life of my ancestors. This bible and all that was stored in it provided me with a glimpse of my great-great grandmother's soul. It was evident she was a woman of strong faith, who trusted wholeheartedly in Christ. “Only one life it will soon be past. "Only what is done for Christ will last,” was written on another slip of paper tucked neatly in between two pages. I spent about an hour flipping through her bible, taking note of her underlined verses and thoughts she had written next to them, and copying down all the poems, words, and advice on the slips of paper I found.

Isn't it amazing? Sometimes I forget that my great-grandparents (whom I knew) didn't start it all, they too had parents, grandparents, and so on. The idea of the family tree is so beautiful to me--such an awesome concept. Here I was years after she had written those words, her great-great granddaughter, typing them on my computer so that I could always have them. I bet she never dreamed that one day, however many years down the road, a member of her family would be typing her words on this thing called the computer. Grandma Lillie passed away only 11 years before I was born--she was in her late nineties. Holding onto that bible brought the concept of legacy to my mind. What exactly does it mean to leave a legacy? Do you only leave legacies by leaving a family behind? How do we follow in our ancestors footsteps to leave behind the legacy of love that they left? In what way will we touch this world so that someday, 100 years down the road someone will pick up our bible, read our notes and poems and wish we were sitting by them to answer their questions? My great-great grandmother's faith has touched mine. How will my faith reach out and touch those after me? These are all thoughts running through my head; thoughts that were sparked by the words of someone I have never met, but to whose life I owe my own.

**Picture: An Amazonian sunset--sunsets always make me think of God & Heaven, of those who have gone before, and the deeper meanings in life.