I was going through my computer this morning and found an old note that I had written several years ago. I didn’t have a blog back then…it was just some thoughts that I wanted to capture. I thought it was worth sharing so here it is.
I remember back when my oldest daughter, at the age of 18 left home. She had decided to take some time off between high school and college to figure out life. After multiple attempts by her mother and me to keep her close to home, so we could help her with these decisions and with emergencies that may arise, she chose a location 600 miles away. She needed distance…distance to figure out what she was going to do…distance to figure out who she was going to be…she was going to begin a new life on her terms.
The day finally came. All the arrangements had been made, the job transfer to the new location, housing and transportation concerns had all been worked out. Now it was my responsibility as a father to take her to her new home and let her go.
As the trip began we reminisced about old times. We laughed until we cried about the times that we had shared while she was growing up. We took a trip through our past to all of the skinned knees and broken hearts…all the things that I (as a father) could not help but think about as I took my little girl to her new life. I knew that this was my last act as the “father of her childhood”.
As we grew closer to her new home my thoughts began to race with panic and I began to feel my last few chances to pass on words of wisdom to my baby slipping away. In just a few short hours our relationship would change forever. I quickly composed myself and thought there are two things that I want her to hold onto forever. First, we talked about the challenges and temptations that she may face as a young lady out on her own, and then we talked about her faith and the foundational things that she had been taught.
That night as I was going to bed I realized that there was one more thing that I wanted her to hold on to as the last words from her father. So that night as she slept in the next room I wrote her a letter. This letter contained the main theme that I wanted to pass on to my child. This is part of what I wrote. “I always want you to remember that no matter where you go or what circumstances you find yourself in…I will always be your daddy and you will always be my little girl”. We are never promised tomorrow and these may have been the last words I would have ever been able to pass on to my child. I wanted her to know above all else the love of her father.
This experience made me think about the importance of last words. In reading Acts 1, we see the last words of Jesus, the last thought that He wanted his disciples to hold on to when He was gone…the instructions for the rest of their lives. “You will be my witnesses”. Jesus was saying that they would be the ones to testify as to who He was. After spending the last few years learning from Jesus, they were going to be His first representatives to the rest of the world. They did not have a choice in this, by default their actions, what they did with the training they had received, would be a statement for the rest of eternity to what they had learned from Jesus Christ.
What are your last words? Out of all you have learned in your life, what are you passing on to others? More importantly, what are you passing on to your children? No matter what else you have accumulated in your life, that is really what you are going to leave behind. Because they are going to represent what you taught them, good or bad, your legacy will live through your children. By default…they will be your witnesses.