“Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.” Exodus 23:14
When I was a child, our family had an annual Christmas tradition of re-enacting the Christmas Story from Luke 2. Besides my parents and occasional cousins, I had five brothers and sisters, so we had a plentiful reservoir of actors to don bathrobes and sheets to play angels, shepherds, Mary and Joseph, and the wise men. One year we had enough to have someone play the donkey. It was a fun tradition, and very serendipitous at times. But it also served to remind me what Christmas is really about. It is still a powerful reminder for me.
The idea of traditions and ceremony is God’s idea – not man’s. He established them to preserve the truth of our story and our relationship to the Author of that story for all generations. God knows how short our memories are, so He prescribed some tangible, regular reminders of who we are, who He is, and what He has done for us.
Not only can traditions and ceremonies remind us of what is true, but they often produce unexpected experiences as we participate in them. We suddenly find ourselves engaged with something beyond ourselves. Discoveries of our own part in the story God has scripted transform us. The plumb line which authenticates such serendipitous events is the Word of God, not our personal experiences.
As grandparents, one of our roles involves serving as keepers of the story by preserving meaningful, relevant traditions through which the ’story’ is powerfully told generation to generation. Our purpose is not to keep traditions for the sake of traditions, but to preserve those traditions which help us remember HIS STORY — and our part in that story. God takes this responsibility very seriously. So should we.
Here are two simple suggestions for effective tradition keeping in your family:
- Evaluate those traditions your family already has. How can we strengthen them for more impact? Are there some we need to discontinue or replace with a different tradition?
- Read Ledbetter and Smith’s book, “Family Traditions” as a reference tool to help you implement effective traditions.
GRANDPAUSE: “A strong heritage doesn’t just happen. It can only be created by having a plan, and with intentional effort.” -Otis Ledbetter
