A Lasting Legacy!

A good life gets passed on to the grandchildren; ill gotten wealth ends up with good people. A good person leaves an inheritance. Proverbs 13:22 from The Message

“A legacy is something we leave behind to the next generation. It can be possessions that we place in the hands of others. It can be principles that we lived that carry on beyond our lives. It also can be people we have influenced whose lives are better as a result of knowing us.” Dr. John Maxwell

Each of us leaves a legacy. As we think about the legacy we might want to leave, keep two things in mind. Today is all we are promised, and no matter who we are, we will leave some sort of legacy. A spiritual legacy can be defined as the non material wisdom, values, faith, and traditions that one passes down to subsequent generations.

On this day nine years ago, we lost our Mama suddenly, and it is a day we will never forget. She left us exactly as she had hoped she would. One minute she was going about her day, getting her hair done, and the next she was hugging Jesus. It was an unbelieveably sad day for us, but the best of days for her.

Her legacy to her girls, in laws, grandchildren, and great grandchildren is one that exemplifies all those qualities one would most hope to be able to pass on to loved ones and friends, but her greatest legacy is love.

The gift of love is most often something we do rather than just something we feel, and she did something to show that love every day. She expressed it in so many different ways; from the cards she sent to others, to the meals she prepared for folks, to the solos she sang to inspire, to the telephone calls to each of us to encourage us, to the hugs and smiles she passed generously to others every day.

So how are we supposed to honor her legacy and express our love? How should anyone honor a legacy of love? One author gave some examples, “A son drives for five hours to be with his mother on her birthday. A friend mentions a book he is interested in; his friend remembers and finds a copy to give to him for no visible reason. A middle aged couple in a restaurant see a young husband and wife with little money and secretly pay their check.

A father knows how much his daughter likes having a clean car, so he sneaks out to wash it for her as a surprise. People in a small group email each other throughout the week as a way of expressing their love and care.” All are ways to show love. and build a lasting legacy.

Jesus was the example of the legacy of love. In His 33 years on this earth, He exemplied love in all He did, and He prepared His disciples to continue His legacy of love when He was gone. They were to spread the legacy of love for God the Father through His son Jesus Christ. Love was the container in which he delivered his legacy.

According to legend, a desert wanderer discovered a spring of cool, crystal clear water, and he filled a leather container with the precious liquid to take to the king. After a long journey, he presented it to the king, who drank it with it with great pleasure and lavishly thanked the wanderer, who went away with a happy heart.

The king’s son tasted the water and spit it out because it had picked up the smell of the leather canteen and become foul. The boy asked the king why he pretended to like such awful tasting water?

The king replied, “Son that man gave me a gift from his heart. It wasn’t the water I enjoyed, but rather the sweet taste of his generosity. When someone gives you something with genuine love, the thing given is simply the container. The real gift is the thought inside.” What a legacy!

The real legacy is the gift of unconditional love. Mother Teresa used to say,, “If you can’t do great things, do little things with great love. And, if you can’t do them with great love, do them with a little love. And if you can’t do them with a little love, do them anyway.”

The lasting legacy is the unconditional thought inside us as we express love through thoughts, words, and deeds. God blessed us with such a Mama, and we will cherish her legacy forever.