It only matters when I am on this earth and for a few years afterwards that anyone identifies with me. Think about it. 7 billion people. My circle of acquaintances is so small that it doesn’t even compute as a percentage of people that would know me. (maybe 3 millionth of a percent!) So….. what matters is the ripple. The ripple that I leave. The wave I create now. That wave that creates a ripple later.
I am not a scientist. I am not a president. I am not going to be remembered in history books, or journals of medicine. I will not be remembered after 100 years. And that’s ok. That should not be anyone’s goal. Or dream for that matter. The important thing, the most important thing is to affect lives in a positive way. That can be done in a myriad of ways, but it is still the only goal worth anything. Our time here on earth is ours. It is not anyone else’s to dictate. Now one may aspire to BE president and thereby affect lives, and that’s good. But it should be an act of service only and not one of attaining fame.
Legacy
What does that word mean? The dictionary describes it like this:
A gift by will especially of money or other personal property. Something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.
So when we hear that someone leaves a legacy to their children, what is it? Think of all the things one could leave. Money, property, possessions, etc. All will be gone eventually. The only thing worth leaving is yourself.
So what would one leave if they had a choice? I choose love. I want the rest of my days on earth spent promoting love. Not causes to save a rainforest, or end political corruption. They are for others but not for me. I want to be exhausted because of love. I want my vocation to be my love creator.
When the time comes for those who know me to grieve, and possibly fondly remember me, what will they choose to say? It would be my choice for them to say:
David was a work in progress. He began his life as a child that was searching for a home, and a family that he could be with and call his own, in the sense that was traditional. He succumbed to many of the traps that youth fall into and was not immune to temptation. There were many years of doing things that he knew he shouldn’t do, and many lost days, weeks and months. Most importantly, he eventually headed in the direction that would lead to a better life. Better in the sense of doing right more often than doing wrong.
Failed marriages, failed relationships, failed business ventures, and more would cause him to, rather than look around for answers, look up. David isn’t sure why God chose to tug at him and pull him close when He did. Maybe it was that he was willing to listen for that call. Once that call came on a morning headed to work, that caused him to pull over and really pray, he knew something was different. The job was the same, and so was the price of gas and the tensions in the Middle East. But the sense of hope was front and center. It was a gradual climb up and out of the place that felt so empty.
So began the journey that was to deliver David to God. No giving up everything and joining the Peace Corps or becoming a missionary overseas, just a thirst for greater knowledge of who he was in this new body — the body of Christ. So, he began to ask for forgiveness. Then he began to forgive. He began to live his life through the eyes of love first. He read more than ever. He listened to all he could get his hands on to become more educated about what it is that God asks of us. He became a student of love. It would turn into a passion. Agape love: the kind of love that God asks us to strive for, is an unconditional love. Many times, during the day, he would ponder how he could make it easier for someone to navigate their day and do it in a way that they wouldn’t know he provided that answer. An example might be clean the snow off a car for someone without them knowing who did it, or the opportunities were endless.
As the years went by, he felt a void again. He sensed that God was asking more of him but didn’t know what. There was this aching in his heart that caused him to look inward again in the most self-evaluation he had ever done. It was as if he heard a voice saying, “I’m asking more of you.”
So I answered that call.