Inheritance

In historic Westminster Abbey, where kings and queens have been crowned, their bodies eulogized for centuries, second in line to the British throne, Prince William will marry Kate Middleton on April 29th. I remember very well, getting up very early to watch television coverage of his parent's wedding at St. Paul's cathedral. I like to see those beautiful horses, beautiful carriages, the pomp and circumstance of British nobility, such an inheritance...for those of us who are descendents of a people in the time when such was important.

In London, I said to one member of the British royals, “do you think the Queen will retire, in favor of Prince Charles?” She said, “no, they will haul her away in a box, she loves being Queen, this is her 59^th year.” The Queen of England was at one time one of the world's richest royals, but today, because of the oil-rich royals of the Middle East, she is twelveth. Like everyone else, her real estate values have declined. Buckingham Palace is worth $100 million less than it was a few years ago, and so it is with her large real estate holdings in London and elsewhere. Even so, the inheritance of the royal family, in terms of wealth, is incomparable.

English nobility is not as impressive as it was at one time, I remember being in Sicily while the Queen was there. The great yacht Britannica in the harbor, red carpets laid everywhere she would put her foot, her private train, her castles, horses, servants...an inheritance for those who follow her on the throne.

Books could be written about the rich people of the world and those who will inherit. think of those who inherited the Rockefeller fortune, the Kennedy fortune, even Sinatra's fortune. Politics, technology, sports, have all changed wealth, families like the Vanderbilts have been replaced by a single, unwed mother called Oprah Winfrey...worth a reported $2.7 billion, a foundation will inherit her wealth. The richest man on earth is Carlos Slim Helu, from the “broke” nation of Mexico.

I have known some wealthy people in my time, those who have inherited wealth. But, believe me, other than for the satisfaction that comes with money, they are very much like the rest of us...put on their socks one at a time, subject to the world, the flesh, the devil and all the diseases that take the lives of the poorest among us. It makes no difference how much money the Queen of England, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates controls, in the end, when God says, “enough”, neither can buy one more second of life. Then, the only important thing, if the richest or the poorest, are joint heirs with Jesus Christ, the greatest inheritance in the world. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17)

As I aged, I became more appreciative of my inheritance, not so much the substantial family inheritance, but other things. My ancestors, from the time they arrived in New Jersey, were all just hardworking, God-fearing, taxpaying, farming land owners. I have in my possession a survey map of the first farm in New Jersey, where the family founded Morristown. The poor side of the family moved to North Carolina, deeply religious, well-known farm people. They prospered...God, family, country.

To this day, if I could see, I could take you to the farm land, the homesteads, churches and the cemeteries where they lived and are buried. Our Lord appreciated families, ancestry. In the Old Testament, you have ancestral roots of those mentioned, even Christ's ancestral earthly family was given.

My greatest inheritance in my family, is the work ethic. Christian principles and participation, patriotism, with moral living and giving. It bothers me greatly that so many young people do not appreciate or even acknowledge their ancestry. It is hard for me to believe that I am related to people who have let our ancestral homes disappear into the chasm of misuse. In the prosperous country community where I was raised, descendents of the old families have all left with their educations, in the chase for wealth in other places, The old homes are mostly now section 8, lived in by those who know nothing of history or accomplishment. The houses and home sites will eventually disappear.

I live in the historic section of a city, beautiful, well-designed antebellum homes. With the progress of the city, heirs of these homes which had been a source of pride to a growing nation, built ranch-type rabbit boxes in suburbia, gun rack type designed condos on the beach. Beautiful old homes, majestic with their architectural lines, antebellum design-integrity, became occupied by riff-raff, chopped up in two apartments. The most beautiful areas of most Southern cities became slums with slum lords. I well remember that beautiful southern antebellum mansion in which I lived while a student in Memphis, chopped up into student affordable apartments. The great spiral staircase, unimaginable carved woodwork, marble fireplaces, tiled and hardwood floors, a place occupied by people who would never appreciate such. I still remember how quickly relatives discarded antique furniture, handed down through many generations, side boards, magnificent tiger oak dressers and beds, and picture frames...even portraits of ancestors behind bubble glass. They thought phoney imitation veneer over plywood was so beautiful, so shiny, “so modern”.

In most of these cities, a few people who had inherited enough history, to have imagination about these cities, began moving back and redeveloping and restoring the landmark city homes and buildings. Houses with old southern architecture, or an architecture of any type in our history, such as the townhouses up north, stick out, or do not look architecturally correct in suburbia.

Another tragedy of America, the deserting of magnificent downtown cathedrals and churches for mega-church complexes with large parking lots in the countryside. We are supposed to have inherited from those who poured forth their physical and financial energy to produce them, these fine, never-to-be reproduced churches, houses and commercial buildings. In some places, the great churches and cathedrals have been restored, I so appreciate the ancestral-historical attitude of Europe, where inheritance, not only of wealth, but history and philosophy still means something.

We have inherited our waterways, rivers, shorelines, harbors, but have not cared for them. We have inherited the old water pipes, some of the first plumbing known to man, and have not kept it in repair. Many of our illnesses come from the seepage and leakage of ancient plumbing. In thinking of the money or property you may or may not inherit, with taxation, longer living, gigantic before-death expenses in professional care, estates are becoming smaller every day.

Be thankful to Almighty God, firstly for your DNA designed by Him in the council chambers of eternity, just for you. Your religious inheritance, the blessedness of being born and raised in America.