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Yes, leaving a legacy , more importantly, means WHO DO YOU LEAVE BEHIND! A noted author, Tony Compolo, once talked about... how will you be remembered. "As folks stand around your gravesite upon your departure will they hasten away to go eat potato salad or will they hang around awhile and talk about how you positively influenced their lives."
So what kind of person are you...what do you stand for and who really cares? I think your loved ones care, especially your immediate family.
I believe that one of the greatest gifts we can give our loved ones are our stories, beliefs, and life experiences. A hundred years from now , just think how much value our personal stories and accountings will hold compared to the silverware or china we leave behind.
The good news is that you don't have to be a senior citizen to start this process. As a younger adult, there is no better time than now, to start paying attention as to what type of legacy you want to leave behind. So much of it is under your influence.
When Karen had the 'Perils of Patty' stories published as a book for me, it started a long chain of 'Leaving a Legacy' projects. I saved and bound all of the letters from my friend Jane while they were working in Egypt. I had my mother write down information and tell stories so that I could produce a booklet to give each of the kids and grandkids on her 85th birthday. And this encouraged Rema to have her grandmother do the same thing. We have all learned amazing things about these 'old' people who were vibrant and daring in their younger years, but everyone sees them only as old and feeble. My mother was the youngest female pilot in IN - she took her solo flight at age 16! That is where she met my father - at the airport. He was a flight instructor who went on to train military aviators until he finally joined the Army (along with 4 of his brothers) and went to fly overseas. We saw him as a carpenter as we were growing up because he had to give us his dream of flying commercial planes in order to provide for his 4 children.
ReplyDeleteAnd as Karen insisted, our grandchildren will know that John and I were 'Adventure People'! We went on safari and travelled to many, many foreign lands and lived in Paris - instead of just being the kindly old people who bring gifts when we visit! But first, they have to be old enough to read because when we are with them, the activity level is so packed and goes so quickly that there is no time to tell the stories of our adventures!
Darryl, What I wish to leave behind is a legacy of love (as Christ did us) and a legacy of civil uprightness (if there's such a word) because all the money and possessions in this world means nothing when you don't love the Lord. as the old saying goes:"He who dies with the most toys, still dies." your friend, Jeremy
ReplyDeleteSUDYE CAUTHEN say: Actually, Darrell, I haven't spent much time wondering how I'd like to be remembered but I did hear something unusual from a friend. A few days ago he explained that when he passes, he wants absolutely nothing--no service, no headstone, no notice. And he feels this way is more natural, closer to natural law because, a...fter all, the deer and the moose and the squirrel have no markers. Just a thought. Happy holidays to you and yours.
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