All Hallows Eve.

Known today as Halloween, all apostrophes removed. Surrounded by pumpkins and candy and dressing up costumes.

And the odd scary skeleton, cobweb, witch.

Originally, it was the evening before the Solemnity of All Saints, or “All Hallows.” The eve of all hallows – allhallowsevening ….hallo’w’e’en.

All Hallows, November 1st , was the day chosen to remember all the saints who have gone to glory. Martyrs known and unknown. Our loved ones, gone to glory.

For All the Saints stained glass, All Saints Episcopal Church, Jensen Beach, Florida — For All the Saints stained glass, All Saints Episcopal Church, Jensen Beach, Florida

Remembering them, remembering those women who faithfully prayed for me all through my life – my mother Irene Walter, my godmother Jessie Rhind, my GCU leader and dear friend of my mother Joyce Bates (known as Batty of course) in particular. Missed, both for their love and for their prayers.

And grateful for the legacy they left, faithful women of God who prayed, served, loved, ministered. Not on a public stage, but quietly, faithfully, for many many years, impacting the lives of many, not least my children and me.

What of our legacy, yours and mine?

What will we leave? Who will want to remember us?

My children, carried in my heart and on my hip for so long, and now carried simply in my heart - as they carry their own on hip and in heart. They will remember. But what will they remember; and their children, my grandchildren, and perhaps their children too.

What will they remember of me?

What will they remember me for?

And the only thing I want for my legacy is that it should be my prayers for them.

Prayers reaching down through the generations, unto the third and fourth generation. To pray for my children, for their children and their children’s children. For them and their spouses and their children’s children to be those who love the Lord, who live for Him and give their all for Him.

I think of my legacy; and think, hope, pray, that it’s not too late, that there is time for the prayer to continue and to reach forward into the future, their future. And I want more time: time to pray. I want time to slow and allow me moments more in prayer, moments to tell them what’s really important to me. To whisper His story to my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, tell them of the Lord’s great love for them and of mine too, a shadow of His.

On this eve of All Saints, giving thanks already for all the saints who have gone on ahead of us. For their life and legacy, prayer and perseverance.

God to grant me also the time to pray it forward, tell it to my descendants, live it out the best I can for them.

“And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants,and my blessing on your children.They will thrive like watered grass,like willows on a riverbank. Some will proudly claim, ‘I belong to the Lord.’ Others will say, ‘I am a descendant of Jacob.’ Some will write the Lord’s name on their hands and will take the name of Israel as their own.” ISAIAH 44:3-5 (NLT)

WHICH SAINT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR? Who impacted your life? What did they give you that you can pass on to others?

WHAT LEGACY WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEAVE?

WHAT WILL YOU HOPE YO BE REMEMBERED FOR?