One of my blog readers (her name is Lura) commented on one of my posts a few months ago. She wrote, “Yesterday, I bought a birthday card for my granddaughter and filled it with messages from my two sets of grandparents and my great-grandparents.” Great idea, right?
But there was a twist. She went on to say that the words from those ancestors were “encouraging messages they may have sent me, if they were still living…”
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That’s really interesting! She used her memories of her deceased grandparents and great-grandparents to imagine what they would say to her granddaughter today—a granddaughter those ancestors had never met. I thought it was a beautiful way for one generation to bless another, to bridge generations with prayer.
Since reading Lura’s comment, I’ve applied the idea to my own family and prayer life. I haven’t yet written cards to my grandchildren with encouraging messages that previous generations might have offered, but I have prayed for my children and grandchildren using words and phrases that my parents and parents-in-law used.
From lines my mother underlined in her Bible, I’ve prayed, “Lord, I pray for my grandchildren, as my mother surely prayed for me, ‘Let Your Word be a lamp to their feet and a light to their path…open their eyes that they may behold wondrous things in Your Law.’” (Based on Psalm 119:105 and 118, KJV.)
I’ve also prayed the “Mizpah Benediction” that my in-laws often employed, saying something like, “Lord…watch between us and our loved ones, while we are absent one from the other.” (Based on Genesis 31:49, KJV.)
Why not try it? Pray a “legacy prayer” that your loved ones who are now gone to heaven might have prayed for your loved ones still on earth. Perhaps even do as Lura did and write an encouraging word or prayer in the style of a dear, departed loved one for yourself or anyone you want to bless.
I think it’s a creative and encouraging fulfillment of the psalmist’s words: One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts (Psalm 145:4, KJV).
