Finding Mission in Memoir

A few weeks ago, I added another chapter to my memoir. While I know it will need more pages — when the future unfolds itself — I feel a sense of accomplishment. This memoir is for only one person — to leave a written legacy for my beloved son.

I want my son to know about a time in history when we were not afraid to leave our houses unlocked. When our cars could warm up without a driver and not be stolen. When our leaders were people of integrity we could respect. A time when life felt rich and full, even without the internet and all the gadgets that control our lives today.

I want my son to know why I act the way I do. Why I believe what I believe. What happened in my past and how that affects me today. And I wanted a truth-telling of our personal history so that he can understand more about his own heredity.

Whenever I teach my Legacy Writing Course, I stress the importance of a written legacy. It has been quoted that within three generations, the untold stories are lost. What a tragedy!

It is important to pass on memoir to our children and grandchildren. The history books will not tell them how their great-great grandmother’s house smelled of green beans cooked in homemade lard. Of how we kids were always sent outside to play — in all kinds of weather — without supervision. How we learned to make up our own games and create our own toys.

The experts of economy will not tell this generation how we lived with cash only and saved money by buying only what we definitely needed. Everything else could be fixed, using the creativity and skills God gave us.

Social media will not explain how we trusted in God through tornadoes, recessions, wars, and diseases. How everything closed down on Sundays, because the entire town went to church. How the four-part harmonies of worship taught us how to sing together and how to foster relationships built on loving our neighbors as we loved our God. How harmony and unity were more than just music.

Our children can only hear and believe these stories from those who lived them.

I want my son to know exactly how God has faithfully taken care of us throughout the years. The miracles that happened to keep us fed and secure with a roof over our heads. Our particular faith stories that built a foundation which endures today. Through the pages of my memoir, I want my son to walk with me through our personal history. To discover the presence of God in every day and the guidance of the Spirit in every decision.

I encourage all of my readers to transcribe your own memoirs. To write down the stories you want your children to know about, the tales that include the details of your history. Savor the stories as you write them. They are reminders of your own fortitude and resilience. Of the genetic strength in your blood line. Of how God has blessed you and brought you through this earthly life.

Start writing your story. Perhaps you will be amazed — as I have been — at the richness of your history. Someday your children and grandchildren will be grateful that you presented them with such a gift — the story of your life. That you did not let the story die with you.

And eternity will thank you for praising God through it all.

©2026 RJ Thesman – All Rights Reserved

Image Attribution: Ruslan Sikunol / Pixabay

Part of my story lies within the fictional tale of Ruthie. Check it out in Seeking the Land of Grace.