A Squatter’s View

This week I’m a squatter. Not the illegal kind. I didn’t steal a space and claim it to be my own. But I am settling in and living in a space that doesn’t belong to me. 

Yesterday, it felt like I was visiting. Today, it feels like home. All the idiosyncrasies are familiar - handleless doors, narrow stairs, and uneven ceilings. The home is old. Very old. Each board was put in place thoughtfully for this home to stand. There are doors that lead to nowhere and doors that lead to creepy places, but wow is there a story behind each door. Some are real stories, some imagined, and some are only the beginnings of a dream. A legacy dream. 

Have you ever noticed that something wasn’t quite right. Maybe it needed to be fixed or changed or painted. It was inadequate but could be valuable and beautiful. We do this all the time. When our walls are empty, we dream of art that is attractive to our eye. We see a broken tool or an old chair at a yardsale and we immediately know how to fix it up and use it. When we lack knowledge, we find an online course that upgrades our learning. As humans, we are masters at taking something rough and refining it. 

That’s what our friends did with an entire old dilapidated house. And now, I’m squatting there. Everytime I get into a space with this much character and age, I can’t help but think of the stories that go with it. 

Someone learned to parent in this house. They watched their children grow and taught them right from wrong, at least I hope. A woman worked hard to scrub the floors and sweep the kitchen while a man stood outside chopping wood for the fire. History tells us that much. There was laughter and tears. Hard times and good times. That house was a part of someone’s legacy that slowly faded away. An untold family story. Until now. 

My friends took someone else’s broken legacy and they are restoring it to make it their own. Physically, they are pouring in hard work and sweat. Emotionally, they face the extremes we all have felt when working hard and raising kids. Relationally, they are loving and being loved by their neighbors. And spiritually, they are making this house a place for rest and renewal. That’s their legacy dream. It’s what they want to give their kids and eventually their grandkids. 

That’s the real story. And it reminds me of Joshua in the Bible. 

Joshua carried on the legacy of Moses leading God’s people into the promised land. Along the way, generational reminders were set in place like this one. 

As the priests with the ark of the covenant stepped into the Jordan River, God stopped the water, and the nation of Israel crossed over it. 

And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.” - Joshua 4:20-24

Ultimately Joshua’s legacy is a part of God’s story of redemption but through God’s blessing he took someone else’s legacy and created his own. That’s what my friends have done. And just like God, they are leaving a generational reminder of their legacy dream as they restore an old, neglected house. 

We should have a legacy dream too. Let’s create one. What do we want our family to remember, share, and have? 

But the dream is only the beginning. 

The kids and grandkids won’t understand the purposeful choices we have made about our legacy unless we tell them. We choose our legacy and what we pass down to the generations that come after us. But it isn’t always obvious. 

Like our friends who purposefully chose to buy a run down old house in the beautiful mountains of Pennsylvania to create a place for family respite. This is the time to tell their children why it was important to them and show them how to love the outdoors and appreciate the beauty and complexity of nature.

Let’s not just have a legacy dream but let’s tell our kids and grandkids why we chose every part of our legacy to give them. 

Searching for wisdom and asking for grace,

Jody