Owen's Birthright

Earlier this week I was reading to Owen the Bible story of Esau and Jacob. I explained that because Esau was the oldest son he had the birthright which meant he would get most of the money and property when his daddy died (until he gave it to his brother, Jacob). Owen immediately responded with, "Since I'm the oldest, if daddy dies I will get all of his books!"

Books are kind of a big deal in our family. In fact, the first time my grandma visited our home she said she thought she had walked into a library. So far, our kids share our love for reading so you can imagine Owen's excitement at the thought of inheriting hundreds and hundreds of books. I texted Ben and told him about my conversation with Owen. In his reply he told me to tell Owen that he would share his books with Owen now and that we could refer to them as "their" books. When I read the text to Owen he jumped out of his chair, threw his arms in the air, raised his eyebrows and yelled "YAY!!!"

A couple of days later Ben came home and Owen was quick to remind him that he said he'd share his books. You have to be careful what you tell this kid because he doesn't forget easily!

This morning Ben agreed to do the Bible lesson with Owen. During the review time Owen said, "Daddy, Esau had the birthright so he would have gotten all of his daddy's books!" Books, apparently, have more value to Owen then money or land.

This whole exchange is actually interesting because just a few weeks ago I asked Ben (privately, not in the presence of our children) what he would want me to do with all of his books should something happen to him. Would he want me to donate them to a church? Pass them on to a friend in ministry? Sell them? Box them up and carry them with me for the rest of my life? Ben answered that he wanted me to save them for Owen. Therefore, it pleased me when Owen, all on his own, thought that HIS birthright would be daddy's books and that those books were enough to excite him.

I do hope that some day Owen loves to read on his own. I'd love to see him read not just any books, but Ben's books - books written by theologians and men of God. Of course, I'm hoping he'll be borrowing Ben's books and that Ben will be with us for many, many, many more years!