Leaving Your Legacy

Sometimes we confront our mortality. It may come when we suspect we’re seriously ill. Or maybe when there’s an accident that scares us. Or perhaps when we hear of the death of someone close to us.

At times like this, we may contemplate our legacy. In thinking about what we want to leave behind, perhaps it’s most instructive to see what others have given us, things that affect our lives today. In that case, here are some things which I would also love to leave behind:

The sense that I have nothing more important to do with my time than create a memory with someone.

A love which overlooks another’s faults and instead sees the person he or she could become.

A faith demonstrated by a reliance on the Author of that faith.

A refusal to abide someone denigrating their own worth.

An example of how hard work and a goal can make the difference.

An unyielding belief in a child, such that the child then believes in herself.

A joy for life which brings others in.

A sense of humor to lighten the load of this sometimes dark world.

A truth spoken in love.

A willingness to do unconventional things if it will brighten a life.

A friend recently shared a song with me called “Legacy” which says, “How will they remember me? Did I choose to love? Did I point to You enough? To make a mark on things I want to leave an offering, a child of mercy and grace.”

Another person shared with me today the influence a friend and mentor, now deceased, had had on her. We will be remembered long after we have any control over how others will remember us. If you want a say in your legacy, today is the day to give your offering to others.