A Legacy of Love… and Pumpkins
Been pumpkin picking lately?
Fall might be my favorite time of year. Growing up, it was always a special time for my family and the family orchard. My parents always felt strongly that whatever blessings and resources came into their lives were meant to be lovingly shared with those around them. For mom and dad, that didn’t just mean family. It meant neighbors, community members, and really anyone who wandered by the orchard and market.
A great example of this is something they called “Apple Daze.” For several weeks every fall, they opened the whole orchard up to the children of Lane County, Oregon, offering hay rides, apple cobbler, a maze, and a hefty pumpkin to every child who visited. For mom and dad, these weeks were a precious time to love their community and to get to know a whole new generation of neighbors.
Even though my parents have passed away, their legacy of love and service lives on. Right now at the family orchard, Apple Daze are in full swing, carried on by my brother and sister, Greig and Becky Detering. On one recent rainy day, the orchard hosted over 500 local children and their families:
I think mom and dad would be proud of the legacy they’ve left behind. But you don’t have to own a farm to start creating your own legacy.
God has given each of us unique and wonderful gifts, and nothing God does is purposeless. We are called to steward our gifts and resources, and to further God’s kingdom by passing them on to others:
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 4:10-11)
When you use your God-given gifts to love and serve others, you create something that endures beyond yourself.
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What kinds of gifts has God given you? How can you use those to love and serve others?
