keys to success

(My Grandparents with my three children, this past Christmas 2011.)

I remember visiting my Grandparents as a child, at their home in Goderich, Ontario.  It was a large, two-story brick house.  There was a front, grand staircase, and a hidden staircase that took you from the kitchen to the hall above, near the master bedroom.  And a bright pink and black bathroom.  My memories of our time with them, there at that house are very specific, and full of comfort; like a warm blanket that you can wrap up in on a cool evening.   Shreddies saturated in honey.  Playing UNO in the sun-room. Running up and down the back stairs, but stopping to watch Grandma whip hot, steamy, potatoes into creamy submission. Sitting on Grandpa’s lap in his big armchair recliner in the living room. And don’t forget Grandma’s baking- a cream bun, sweet rolls, a coffee cake – she always had something on hand…

But what stands out in my memories, far and above the rest, is the after-meal tradition.  After every meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner, we would sit around the dining room table and when we had finished eating we would read God’s word and a devotional.    My Grandpa and Grandma Brubacher were the first to give my sister and I a copy of “Keys for Kids.”  It was a monthly periodical with devotionals for children.      We loved it back then, and I still read them to my kids now.

In my memory it seems as though they were always reading their Bible, or a devotional, and talking about the Lord. In fact, I’m not sure I can recall a significant conversation with them, in my later years,  where He didn’t come up…  As early as fifth grade, I remember my grandparents coming for a visit and my Grandpa came into my bedroom to chat.  He sat down next to me on my bed and asked me how things were going in my relationship with the Lord.  Back then I thought it seemed unusual and a bit strange.  Now I see it was all a part of Grandpa’s strategy.

He knew the keys to true success.

I read a quote recently from Robert Louis Stevenson: “That man is successful who has lived well, laughed often and loved much.”  I suppose that may be true in part.  But, Reuben Brubacher had success of a different nature in mind.  He wanted to leave a legacy of believers.  He wanted his offspring to be genuine followers of Christ.   And in word and deed he went about setting the very best example humanly possible of one who loved the Lord.  Grandpa talked about Him in the morning when the sun was coming up, and all thru the day til the sun was going down.  Those were his keys.

And it worked – His legacy is children, grandchildren and now even great -grandchildren who have chosen to follow Christ.  I can say sincerely as one of Reuben and Ann Brubacher’s grandchildren that it is in no small part because of their influence that I am a Christian.  My Grandfather, by God’s grace, has lived a truly successful life. (a humble man, I’m sure I’ll never hear him claim anything of the sort.)

Today, I can only tell you that I hope I can leave the same legacy as my grandparents.  totally sold out.  unashamed.  bold.  Those are the real keys…

My Grandfather took these words to heart from Deuteronomy 11, and has reaped the blessings:

¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children,talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lordswore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

from Psalm 92:

1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
² To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night,