For our first two kids, my wife and I kept journals while she was expecting. We tried to record some of what was going on and what we were thinking at the time, to share with them after they were born, that they might know something about us. (OK, by the third we were already playing ‘man-to-man’ defense and time got away from us. What can I say?)
This is different than looking at your phone in the morning to see messages waiting, leaves dropping into a stream of time, most carried away and forgotten in the cycle of seasons already familiar. We wanted our children to know that, before they came to be, we were looking forward with love and anticipation, that amidst whatever anxiety and frustration already existent there was joy in the offing: "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)
All the Bible is a letter from God to you, written to future generations, recorded and kept over the centuries to be found by you:
“I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old - what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.” (Psalm 78:2-6 NIV)
"For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4 NIV)
You’ve got a letter waiting for you.
God has a Word for you, and there is so much to tell you. Read it; relish it. Share it with your children, and with your children’s children, that together we might have hope.
Need a reading plan? There are lots out there. Here are a few good ones:
Want an app that will remind and prompt you?
Do you have a favorite Bible reading scheme?
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