The family Bible
The family Bible
By Wally Blackman
When I was growing up, it was customary to see a very large Bible in many homes, usually placed somewhere prominently. It was known as the family Bible. Our family used it to write the names and dates of important events like births, marriages and deaths. Usually there were copies of obituaries, or wedding notifications cut out of the local newspaper and placed inside. While I was in the Army, I noticed my maternal grandparents did not have a family Bible so when the opportunity presented itself, I obtained one for them. Sure enough, it became the repository of newspaper clippings and other memorabilia. It did, however, sit prominently in the hallway which made me very happy.
Later, as I began to do some genealogy research on my family, the family Bible became a great source of information, especially as extended family members shared with me the notes they found in Bibles handed down to them from our common ancestors. I was thankful so many in the family had kept and preserved their own family Bibles.
Times have changed and there are not as many family Bibles in the home as there used to be. However, my greatest lament is not that many homes do not have a gigantic Bible sitting somewhere prominently, filled with clippings about individual family members, or the family tree section filled out, but that there are so few Bibles in the home period. Perhaps sadder, for so many reasons, is how few Bibles are read in the home.
You see, my mother had a family Bible, but she read to me every night from another, smaller Bible, but containing the same life-changing words. She made the stories in the Bible come to life, and in many ways, the Bible she read to me was more of the family Bible than the large one sitting on a table. It was one of those nights she was reading when I realized my need to place my faith in the Lord, and as a seven-year-old, trusted in the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross.
My wife and I kept that tradition and read to our children when they were young from the real family Bible. It was not the unread, sometimes dust covered large one, but the smaller one they also could handle and read as they became able. Why not use the time between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to get and read your own family Bible.
