ANOTHER WORD

 As soon as I announced the last week of blogs on the words that have been submitted, a faithful friend and reader sent me a word.  THANKFUL for the encouragement!  Here is the new plan---anytime you send a word or thought via any form of communication.  It will be put on my writing list.  I have always kept a list of thoughts and ideas to write about.  If I don't immediately write them down, they are off floating in the gray matter-sometimes lost in the black hole of no return.  So I jot down the word or thought and a few ideas concerning it and simmer on it for a while.  Send me something and I promise it will be written about.  Follow along with the blog and one day it will pop up as the topic.  So grateful for all who read, comment, and help me to process.  I would soon be making excuses and not sitting to write without your encouragement.

Today's word is one I think about quite a bit here in my final chapters.

At some point in time, it begins to dawn upon us that once we leave this terrestrial ball all that remains of us is our legacy.  The legal world would call a legacy the wealth or those possessions we bequeath to our heirs.  Those legacies are material legacies which can quickly fade away.  What seems so much more important are the intangibles.  Those things unseen, but lasting.      I found this while researching the definition of legacy ~

When a person dies, the mark the individual left on the world represents that individual's legacy. It is about the richness of the individual's life, including what that person accomplished and the impact he or she had on people and places.

 

How we are remembered is by far our most important legacy.  When I think of my parents, I do not remember what they did or did not leave materially.  I remember the hardships they overcame, the integrity they exhibited, the lessons of character they instilled, and the influence that survived them.  I remember the importance of family which they instilled and the expectation of always doing your best.  I remember their faith in their children be successful members of society.  Their legacy was so much more than things or even their children--their legacy was the impact they had on those left to remember them.

I have desires for what my legacy will be.  Those desires can only be accomplished by living a full and abundant life of love and service.  Sitting here thinking it over will not get it done.  I do not ever recall anyone commenting on someone's legacy being the time they spent pondering.  Many times, I have heard others speak of the wonderful legacy left by their loved ones.  Those legacies which have lived on almost always have to do with who they were and how they  lived their lives.  The labels we wear as we trek through this world are our lasting legacy.  My labels include, daughter, sister, friend, servant, gardener, cook, writer, and most important Believer.  How will we be remembered?    What impact am I having on this world, and on others?  I pray we all strive for abundant lives which have a lasting impact on those we someday will leave.  May others remember us for lives well lived in love and service to those in our path.  May we all hear those beautiful words someday, 

"Well done, good and faithful servant."

Matthew 25:23

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your might.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children,

and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,

and when you walk by the way,

and when you lie down

and when you rise."

Deuteronomy 6:5-7