He lost his family.

No, they didn’t die. There was no airplane crash, divorce, affair, or breakdown. But it was as serious. It was the slow drift of apathy.

My wife and I were out for dinner, and they were across the way from our table. On the surface, they looked like a perfect family: dad, mom and two kids, a boy and a girl. He was dressed sharply, his wife even better—fit and trim. And the kids looked picture perfect. They could have been teen and preteen models.

But there was a problem. They hardly said a word. Both kids had earbuds in. The son was watching a movie. The daughter was listening to music. Even the wife was scrolling through Facebook. Even when the meal was served, they ate with a careful eye on their phones. Finally, even the dad gave in and took a phone call.

The phone reverie was interrupted only by a picture of the parents, which the son took with great reluctance.

I know it was only one dinner, one evening, but I couldn’t help but think he’d lost his family. The content on their phones was far more important than the content of their conversations.

Perhaps the first step towards successful family legacy is learning to talk again—without our phones.

Photo by McKaela Taylor on Unsplash

Bill High

Bill is CEO & Founder of Vyne Legacy. He works with families to equip them with tools to build multigenerational legacies, and he teaches givers and financial advisers on transformational biblical generosity. He is the co-author with David Green of Giving It All Away and Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously.

Published July 30, 2021

Topics: Family Legacy

ChildrenFamilyFamily CommunicationParenting