One afternoon while I was cleaning out my garage, I came across a rusty tackle box. It wasn’t mine but my dad’s. Dad had passed away a few years before. Memories began to flood back. Not treasured memories, but ones of a relationship I had longed for but never had with my father. The longer I stood there, the more upset I became. In my spirit, the Lord seemed to ask me, “If you were to die today, what would your children hold in their hands tomorrow that would let them know they were the treasures of your life?”

I thought, “Lord, I tell my kids I love them all the time and have more home videos than could be watched in a lifetime!”

The still, small voice seemed to answer, “Words fade. Memories fade. What would they hold?”

My mind drifted back to a Bible study I had been in. We were discussing Psalms 78:1–8 and how we can “tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord” so that our children “would not be like their forefathers—a stubborn and rebellious generation” (NIV). I remembered an old man saying, “My father died when I was twelve. Before he died, he wrote me a letter describing his hopes, dreams, and desires for my life. For sixty years, I’ve read that letter every week of my life. I believe that I have become the kind of man my father wanted me to become.”

Wow! It’s hard to imagine that our written words of encouragement to our children can act as a lifelong inspiration to them. Just think how powerful a note from you, expressing your love for them and for God’s Word, the Bible, would be.

Have you written such a letter to your children? Write one today, and hide it where they will find it once you’ve gone to meet your Heavenly Father.