By Jan Miller Penton

Gauge’s mom and dad have always celebrated his birthday in a big way, and I was looking forward to the big celebration as usual. This year he will be twelve, and to our dismay and surprise Gauge decided he wanted money instead of gifts and no party! Cherrie was in shock, and so was I.

How did this happen? Our little guy grew from a small boy to a fellow in his tween years in what seemed a blink. I wasn’t quite ready for this, but I’ll try to roll with it. Thankfully, his mom said no money for Christmas! I mean we have to stick together and hold onto tradition when we can!

I guess one reason I love to give and receive gifts is it’s one of my love languages. If you have never read about this topic, it is quite interesting. Some people couldn’t care less about gifts, but they feel really loved by physical touch or acts of service. It is important for us to try to show love in the way our people receive it, but I think we usually fall back on what we like ourselves.

My other grandson, Aidan, has his wedding coming up in a couple of weeks. I had chosen a beautiful dress and finally thought it fit really well only to discover that it was a little more fancy than what others were wearing. I’ve always liked a little fancy, but I wanted to dress in keeping with the others so I took it back. Thankfully, I still had the tags on so returning it wasn’t a problem.

I know I tried on everything possible and nothing suited me so I went shopping in my closet and found something I can wear. I’m not giving up the hunt yet, but at least I have backup if it comes to that.

My late husband and I came from families without a lot of money, and it was a dream of ours to work hard and be able to leave an inheritance for our children. I always thought of the inheritance we wanted to leave as monetary, but with every year that passes I realize that leaving a legacy is so much more.

Sunday, my pastor spoke about the way our enemy is looking for our weak spots to attack us. He will try to deceive our children and grandchildren and send confusion. So many families are facing problems; none of us are immune.

As parents and grandparents we can get discouraged and think the way is hard. We all know times can get tough, but the good news is that we don’t have to sit back and watch the enemy wreak havoc on our families.  I’m glad that our God is so much greater than the enemy. He won the battle on the cross, and we, as his children, can fight for our families on our knees. That is a perfect gift and lasting legacy.