Creating Spiritual Legacy
What is a
The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith. (Dr. Billy Graham)
My sweet Mom lost her life to cancer at the age of 70. I was with her the morning she took her last breath. That moment was both hard and peaceful. While my heart ached knowing she would never walk by my side again in this life, I knew she was walking into the arms of Jesus, free of the disease that had riddled her body. As we gathered the pictures together for her slideshow and planned her funeral, we wanted to bring back to life and memory the incredible person she was. At the funeral, and through cards and calls, I enjoyed never before heard stories that gave me glimpses into my Mom’s life through the eyes of others.
After the funeral, I was walking past my Mom’s flower garden, and one particular bloom not only caught my eye but spoke to my heart. It was a large, perfectly formed rose hanging from a rose bush I had given her for Mother’s Day years earlier. I had chosen the one I did because it was brimming with yellow roses, her favorite. But the blooms didn’t stay yellow. Over the years, the rose bush began to reveal the most beautiful and unique roses I have ever seen. Shades of pink began to form on the tips of some of the petals. Gradually, each rose bloomed a little differently with combinations of yellow and pink, sometimes blending to make soft hues of tangerine. With each season came something new. Each opening of the petals revealed a deeper beauty. As I looked at the rose that day, I saw my Mom’s life. I thought about the depth of who she was, with all of the changing seasons and beautiful hues. And I realized I had missed a lot when I was looking through the lens of daily life. I was now looking at the sum of her life. I was looking through the lens of her legacy.
A legacy is what we leave behind. We get glimpses of it during a person’s lifetime, but a legacy happens when one dies. And it will happen to all of us. The way we live our lives, and whatever personal belongings we accumulate will become our legacy.
We often put considerable effort into planning our estates and writing our wills. We think about our belongings and wonder which of our children will want Grandma’s silver platter, Dad’s military uniform, or Mom’s wedding band. And as cherished as those kinds of inheritances are, they do not shape character. And they do not have eternal value. If we want to pass on a legacy that will live forever, we need to invest effort into creating a spiritual heritage.
Our spiritual legacy is who we are – the shades, the colors, and the depth of our inner selves. We build a spiritual legacy by being faithful in our relationship with God, allowing Him to fill us with His love, and being intentional in our daily life so that His love will pour over and into the lives of those around us. When we spend our life cultivating spiritual legacy, we are storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven, “where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves cannot break in or steal,” (Matthew 6:20).
We will all leave a legacy in the lives of our families and others with whom our paths have intersected. Either we will create a solid foundation for future generations to build upon or we will leave something that needs rebuilding. The choice is ours. And it requires us to assess our lives and answer the question:
What kind of legacy am I creating?
