Legacy Bible

Years ago back when I would just scroll Pinterest, I saw someone share a generational Bible, or maybe a legacy Bible, I don’t know. It was a present for her child when he was graduating, and the grandparent had traced their hand. It got me thinking about a Legacy Bible for my kids. I went and bought three Bibles, made some Bible cases and wrapped them as Christmas presents.

They were a bit confused to open engraved Bibles with their grandchild’s name

As they opened the Bible, I said, “This is only a temporary present.” The look of confusion increased on their faces.

“This is for your grandchild when they graduate. As you study the Bible this year I want you to write notes in it. If your pastor has a particularly good point in the sermon, write it down in here. If you see something in your Bible study that stands out to you, write it down.”

Their faces cleared and I got different reactions.

My father-in-law had been raised in the “writing in the Bible is blasphemy” mindset and he was really struggling with this idea.

My mother-in-law was interested.

My Mom, my Mom was excited. She took the Bible and started studying at the end of the year she handed me the Bible and said, “What grandbaby do I get next?”

My kids are about to graduate and she still calls them grandbabies.

At one point I lost a Bible

I was using it and writing in it, and I took it with me to every Bible study I went to. That meant it went to all sorts of places. One day I left it there.

I scoured my house looking for this Bible. I checked the church lost and found, everything. I was heartbroken I had lost the Bible.

Then a month or two later our small group leader was cleaning her house, and she found the Bible under the couch. She handed it to me and I cried.

I held the Bible to me and cried and explained this was Superman’s graduation present. I’m passing it from person to person to get their insights.

Everyone loves this idea

As I get closer to the kids’ graduation I have started asking people in the church they have known for years, or youth leaders to take the Bible for a month.

I shortened the time to a month for everyone but my Mom because that is a good amount of time.

“That’s such a great idea. I love this!” said the boys’ small group leader as I asked him to take it for a month.

“Thank you for asking me,” said a woman at our church who has volunteered alongside The Artist.

What I’ve learned as I’ve passed the graduation Bibles around

A year is too long for some people.

I gave it to one person and it took years to get it back. Admittedly, this person lived out of state, so there are some excuses.

But a month, that’s a good amount of time, it lets him have things happen in his life, and most people won’t have time to lose it too much in a month.

Sometimes people will write stuff you don’t agree with.

After getting a Bible back one time, I was looking up something and saw a note I didn’t expect. I’m not sure if I agree with what was written.

Now, I’m not saying pick a person who has completely different views that are heretical or you don’t agree with, but it’s okay to mildly disagree with someone. It lets my kids think about the notes and see if they also agree with the statement.

Get input from your kids

Now that my kids are teens and careening ever closer to graduating, I’m asking their opinion of who they want to get their Bibles.

Actually, Batman took over handing his Bible out. One of the Kung Fu teachers is an amazing young man, who if my boys turn out to be a fraction of who he is, will be amazing. I had given it to him and explained what the Bible was, and he gave it back to Batman to return to me, and then Batman took it and gave it to someone else, and now he has a list.

Let your kids write in them too

Currently the Artist has Batman’s Bible. She’s very excited about writing notes in his Bible. They also have Bibles for their cousins and currently are passing around between the three of them.

What I put in the Legacy Bible

For each of the Legacy Bibles I gathered a few supplies that I use in my Bible study.

• wide-margin Bible– I found the widest margins I could find without making the Bible TOO thick
• Bible case– I made mine, look for extra compartments. I wanted mine to have a place for a pencil sharpener, colored pencils, post-it notes, and a pocket
• Colored pencils– you could just get the basic 8 colors for this, but the 36 pack is only a dollar more
• pencil sharpener-I am ridiculously picky about pencil sharpeners, I almost guarantee I wouldn’t like the one I link to, but the one I have in mine I buy at Hobby Lobby and put in a mini Altoids Tin
• post-it notes– having these small 1.5×2 inch post-it notes is great for when you run out of margin space, which I have done… many times, especially in some sermon series

What do you think? Do you want to make a legacy Bible?

Side note, I’ve gone through about five different names to think of what to call these, finally settling on Legacy Bible as I typed up this post.

Some Bible studies you can share with kids to write in their Bibles

Some of these Bible studies have been completed in my kids’ Bibles

• Teach your child how to study the Bible (SPACE)
• How to walk like Jesus
• How to walk like Jesus
• Discernment and purity Bible study