Beautiful Inheritance
THE STORY
A few years ago I was convicted by the story of Naboth and his vineyard in I Kings 21. When King Ahab demanded Naboth relinquish ownership of the vineyard, Naboth refused the king’s proposal, simply stating, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers” (I Kings 21:3). Naboth wanted to keep the vineyard, not because it was beautiful or perfect or worth a lot of money, but simply because it was his inheritance and he held it as precious.
It was the 1940s when a young man and young woman (both younger than I am now) met at Frankfort Pilgrim College, not too many blocks from where I live. They both were first-generation Christians. They both fell in love with the people of Frankfort, especially the some 200 families who made their homes at the west end of town. While still students at Frankfort Pilgrim College they began ministering in that unreached community and a church was born.
Lewis & Mildred pose with five of their children in front of the tabletop house they lived in near the church they were planting, Victory Chapel.
Lewis and Mildred Smith gave their lives to the church that birthed and nurtured me — they started the family that has loved and surrounded me since it welcomed me to the tribe 25 years ago.
The walls of the church Grandpa Smith built are crooked. He didn’t know how to build, but he took his pension money from being wounded in World War II and bought blocks to build a church — a church that served as the school where I attended, that now serves as the children’s church where I teach on Sunday mornings. Grandpa and Grandma built something that outlasted them.
A few years ago I thought of the crooked walls and the stained carpet and the gravel parking lot and mismatched pews of the church I’ve loved my entire church-going life. I thought of how easy my work of watering and weeding is in comparison to the plowing and planting and protecting that my grandparents had to do to establish the church and family I love.
Image: Merilee Barnard
Image: Merilee Barnard
Image: Merilee Barnard
I thought of the never-ending offers that I receive to go somewhere else (this is not a claim to fame — every Christian school needs teachers and so the offers are many and varied and humbling). But quite honestly — I love my church with its simple means and simple people and I don’t really want to go anywhere else.
I’d rather stay and take care of that which costed someone else so much to carve out.
This is my beautiful inheritance.
Image: Merilee Barnard
“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”
THE SONG
1. Sittin’ on pews I didn’t build
Singin’ a hymn I didn’t pen
Eatin’ from trees I didn’t plant
Drinkin’ from wells I didn’t dig
Each precious piece was guarded with hands
That knew the price to dig and plant
And the trees grew up in time
The well’s water sustained new life
But the moment’s come for old, worn hands
To give me my inheritance
Beautiful inheritance
This is a pleasant place
An incredible thought to think
This land was kept for me
I could go most anywhere
Nothin’s really keepin’ me here
But I think that I’ll just stay awhile
And care for my inheritance
2. Once they stood out and looked inside
They saw the price to build a home
They gathered seeds to plant some trees
They chose to lay some things in stone
Each winding wall was built in fear
They knew the threats, dangers lurking near
And the wall was built in time
The stones kept safe the home inside
But the moment’s come for a weary man
To hand to us his treasured land
Beautiful inheritance
This is a pleasant place
An incredible thought to think
This land was kept for me
I could go most anywhere
Nothin’s really keepin’ me here
But I think that I’ll just stay awhile
And care for my inheritance
I could go most anywhere
Nothin’s really keepin’ me here
But someone I loved left me with this land
That they so long cherished
So I think that I’ll just stay awhile
And care for my inheritance
Words & music by Merilee Barnard © August 4, 2017