PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

October 5, 2022

INHERITANCE

                Our first day in Seattle, Washington, on our train trip to the northwest we took the Seattle Duck Boat Tour.  The tour offered a good introduction to the city.  The tour guide was a graduate of the University of Washington where he majored in theater arts.  His entertaining tour included jokes that only seemed to get worse and worse.  Somehow I managed to become his straight man.

Our tour guide encouraged all of us to visit the offices of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation located just down the street from the headquarters of the Duck Tour.  As a part of his spiel the guide asked that in light of his great wealth how did Bill’s children feel about him only giving them $10 million dollars in his will.  From the tone of his observation I took it that the guide thought they should be upset.

When the guide asked his question I thought of one of the members of the church I served in Fort Wayne.  Starting with a Standard Oil Station and hard work, Chuck developed the station and surrounding area into Times Corner.  When he finally sold the property, he invested his money and continued to generate income.  While not on the scale of the Gates, Chuck was a wealthy man.

When he died, I met Chuck’s children and talked with them in preparation for his funeral.  They were great kids who had all done well on their own.  Chuck had incorporated them in the development of Times Corner and they had learned lessons and values which served them well when they went out on their own.  I could not imagine any of them complaining about how much Chuck might have left them in his will.  Knowing the public persona of the Gates, I would suspect that their children had the same value system and priorities as their parents and very likely would not have grumbled about receiving only $10 million dollars.  I think the guide’s question said more about his value system than it said about that of the Gates’ children.

The Book of Proverbs tells us “train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray. (Prov. 22:6)  Chuck and his wife trained their children to be responsible, hard working adults with a good value system.  This was inheritance far greater than any money they might have received.  While I have no proof if it, I would suspect that the Gates’s children received the same inheritance which was of more value than the $10 million dollars they would receive.

Another inheritance that we can give to our children is our family’s traditions and stories.  I had a lady in one of my churches who every year for Christmas gave her grandchildren one of her possessions.  With the gift she included a note that detailed the history of the piece and its importance for her and sometimes for the grandchild’s parents.  She said her grandchildren eagerly anticipated what they might receive each year.

What kind of an inheritance are you leaving your children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews?  Perhaps it is a monetary gift.  That is good.  However, in the end what might have more worth are a value system, a work ethic and a Christian faith that will serve them well during their lifetime and will help them use the monetary gift wisely.  We can also leave to them the stories and traditions of our family clan.