Legacy

So a word I’ve heard a lot in the past few months is legacy. What is a legacy? I don’t know the Webster’s dictionary meaning yet but to me it means what we leave behind when we’re done. It doesn’t have to be after we die. To me it is when you leave anything. When I left my full-time clinic nursing job, what are they remembering about me or what is better (or worse) there because I worked there. What “legacy” have I passed on to my kids? Why am I thinking about this? Because I believe we have to be intentional. What do you want to pass on to your kids? Deuteronomy tells us over and over to “remember”. God says set stones and remember what the Lord did for you here. Or write in on your door posts, or hands…. He also says “tell your children” or the “next generation.”

I feel like my generation got pretty caught up in “me”. What do “I” want to do? What is convenient for “me”? We’ve lost some since of what relationships really are with all of this “me” thinking. Add in a dose of “convenient internet talk” which means you don’t have to see someone’s face, their laughter, anger or tears and you’ve got a pretty non-emotional relationship. We’re missing out on the depth of love. No wonder we have a hard time accepting Christ’s love for us.

So what legacy do I want to leave my family and friends? I’d like them to look for God in their lives and experience God’s love through loving others. I’d like them to love to learn and try new things and oh, so much more. I do know the only way to start this is to do it myself, so they can see me “practicing what I preach.” What about you? What legacy do you want to leave?