Legacy

Recently, I've attended the funerals of 3 people who meant a lot to me. They were all advanced in age, so it wasn't surprising when the news came of their passing. However, the death of a friend or loved one is never really something we want to accept or even acknowledge in some instances. But it happens. Living is terminal. We'll all pass sooner or later.

As people I know carried my friend's casket past me yesterday, I couldn't help thinking, "Okay. Next week I turn 70. Someday, my friends will carry me down this aisle." During the past few years, a number of those friends I attended school with have died… way too soon, by my way of thinking. Friends I cared a lot about. This is a sobering thought.

Unless we have a terminal illness or condition, we usually don't know when we'll die. Most of us, myself included, are focused on LIVING this life we've been given. We try to eat right, go to the gym, take walks, get proper sleep, etc., all to prolong our lives. We read books on changing habits, try to be better people, and make plans for the future… we're doing our best to live the best way we know how.

There are no guarantees in life. Tomorrow may or may not come for you or me. So, what am I doing with Today? Today is something I know I have. Today is a gift for me to take care of… maybe that's why it's called the "present". (Too cheesy? I'll stop)

If you walk through a Swedish graveyard, which I do on occasion when my wife Marica and I visit her parent's grave, you'll notice written on some of the older gravestones the title of those whose remains are lying there. "Accountant," "Professor," "Baker," "Teacher," and even "Tax Collector" are some that I've seen. These are the professions or activities that took up a great portion of their lives. These are the things that people remember about them. It's part of their legacy.

Our identity is not in what we do but in who we are. And who we are is expressed in our character… which is the outward expression of our core values. Those values we genuinely believe in and allow to guide the way we live and interact with others. As my wife says, "It's who we are when no one else is looking."

We're all formed by the things/people/experiences we're surrounded with… or those we allow ourselves to be exposed to. Remember the old saying, "You are what you eat." If I want to lose weight, maybe I should clean out my cupboards of all the unhealthy snacks and food lying there to tempt me? I know if I repeatedly eat unhealthy things, do unhealthy things, think unhealthy thoughts… that eventually I will become something I really do not want to become. This is the natural outcome of following that road.

However, if I say, "That's not who I want to be!" or let's make it even stronger, "That's not who I AM!" it becomes a little easier to take steps away from that lifestyle. Our values determine who we are. They are our true identity. So my questions are, "Who do I want to be?" How do I want to be remembered? What is the legacy I'll leave behind?

There's a great verse in the Bible that says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." That sounds like good advice to me. Something we can build a life on.