Have you ever wondered what your family, friends and others might think about you after your death?
Have you thought about what you might leave to those you love, when you die?
We each will have a legacy, something handed down to others.
It might be material things, it could be words we’ve said, it could be examples we’ve given by our actions. In all cases, we are responsible for what we’ve left behind.
When it comes to leaving material things, some of us have very different feelings. I have heard some people say, “I came into this world with nothing, and I’ll go out with nothing.”
There’s no desire to pass on cash or assets, or perhaps there just isn’t anything left.
Some of us have a fixed plan to feather the nest of our children, grandchildren or others, including charities. We do this out of generosity, or gratitude, or perhaps guilt.
When we think of the words we’ve left behind, they might have been words of encouragement, of wisdom, of chastisement, of hurt or comfort.
If our legacy is defined by our actions, we pray that they were ones for which we can be proud.
Of the three types of legacies above, the one that has an unpredictable desired outcome is the bequeathing of cash or other assets.
It might turn out that the recipient’s responses go something like this: “That’s all he left me. If he hadn’t wasted so much on (fill in the blank), he could have really helped me.” or, “Why did I get $X.00 and so and so got twice as much?” or maybe from someone who was left out of the will, “He gave it all to charity just to spite me.”
Words spoken daily become our legacy to the extent someone remembers them. When we speak daily, we generally aren’t cognizant of this until someone points out that what we said had special meaning to them.
We like to know when we’ve moved someone by our words of encouragement or comfort, but we dread to find out we’ve hurt someone by our criticism. Unfortunately, they don’t always tell us and we don’t know how long this will stay with the target.
Our actions, i.e., how we lived our lives, will be the ultimate determinant of our legacy.
People will remember whether we were friendly, helpful, sharing, mean, arrogant, stingy, loathsome, etc. We can mold people’s opinions of us by treating them as we wish to be treated. We can go above their expectations and really leave a lasting impression.
But the best way we can cement our legacy is to let the assets we leave, the words we say, and the actions by which we will be remembered, be motivated by a desire to leave a legacy of love.
We will never know if the material things we leave to others will have the desired effect because we are unable to give “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (1 Pt 1:4), but if we let them know, either now or in our will, that we are giving from the heart, that will cement our legacy.
We can only hope that when our loved ones recall our words, they will say of us, “Your testimonies are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.” (Ps 119:111) If they can say this, our legacy is guaranteed.
When others look back on how we lived our lives, and they find something about how we lived that they want to emulate, then our legacy is intact.
Finally, if we do all things with a love for others, like God loves us, we will receive the fruits of our legacy in heaven.
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