I'll take anything for free...

My family jokes that I will take anything for free. 

Anyone want this? 

My hand goes up first! 

Allow me to clarify and defend myself a bit. I don't raise my hand for the "crap" (well maybe sometimes) I raise my hand for the things that mean something to my family. 

When I look around my house, the majority of it came from someone. 

The milkcan in my kitchen was used on my Grandma Leitnaker's dairy farm as a child. The lamp sitting on our buffet was the original Tannie Haynes' (Paul's great-grandmother). The silver I have is Aunt Grace's, the china was passed down from my mother in-law, the gold band I wear as my Grandma's. I have necklaces, bracelets, watches all passed down from family and those are the things that I hold the most dear and will never give away until I give them to my own children.

Henry is the star student this week. Tomorrow he takes 5 things to school that mean something to him. Two of them made me cry:

My dad's baseball glove

My grandfather, his Bear's, baseball hat

Henry knows that those two things are special; that they were given to him by two people in his life that have passed on to the next and he was grateful to know them and have their stuff.

What do you hold on to?

What things do you take for "free" from your family? 

As I sit here and think about what means the most to me, it is just that. My family. Our things that have been passed down through the generations that will continue to be passed down. 

Abraham and Sarah longed for a family and they were told that their descendants would be more than all the stars in heaven. They were given the ultimate legacy and we are tasked with carrying that on through our faith, our family traditions and our stuff. 

The stuff tells the stories of all of our families

I cherish my Nana's Bible's, I cherish the communion cup and plate that was given to me by my Nana that was used in WWI, WWII, the Korean War and Vietnam by Army Chaplains. All that those items have seen are held in the space and spirit that surrounds them and I am grateful to pass them on one day to my own children.

Don't pass up your chance to get that free stuff in your family; take it and cherish it because it is apart of who you are. 

Take the free stuff and when you do know that you are enough, you are worthy and you are beloved. 

-Pastor Ali