Legacy is in the Living

Thursday night was a very special evening.  Some very dear friends threw a “Going Away Party” for our family as we leave our home and community of 10 years to begin our new ministry “’venture.”  It was a lovely evening filled with great food, and precious friends from many areas of our lives. 

As we greeted people and visited one thing kept sticking with me- legacy.  It is a word we have been talking about a lot in our house, because (A) has been planning a sermon series on it for the month of June.  Since we both speak publicly, we often bounce ideas off each other or talk about our plans when I have an event coming up or he is working on a complete sermon series.  We had been talking about legacy and about how you leave one, but that night it hit me more than usual.  Legacy isn’t just something you leave- its how you live.  A legacy isn’t something you prepare for right before you depart and then hope that people will remember you for it, and it isn’t your parting words to them.  It is WHO you are in the everyday things.

Just a few of the many precious cards we received

I listened that evening to people say “You were the first minister I’ve ever had who actually knew who I was.”  “I never felt like I could talk to the minister about things until you came along.”  “I’ll never forget you being there for me.”  “I had never really been involved in the church until you came and helped me find a place to belong.”  “You have meant so much to me, you made me feel like I mattered.”  “You guys are like family to us.”  “Did you know (A) prays for my son every day?”  I watched grown men who are strong- shed tears as they said their good-byes and precious women work hard in the heat to put on a dinner as a labor of love. 

As we finally got in the car to pull away that evening, I looked at (A) through the tears running down my face, and said- THAT is was legacy is.  It is not some final sermon given, or money left to endow a scholarship.  Legacy is how you live in the day to day, it is the way you make people feel, and the way that you show them you care.  Legacy is the time spent and the relationships formed.  Legacy is not just in the public appearances- but in the phone and text conversations, the check-ins during a hard time, showing up at ball games and choir concerts, stopping by funeral visitations, asking someone to be a part of your team, and praying over their needs.

And as I listening to people share with my husband that evening, it really made me think.  Do I always take the time to care about people as I should?  I’m so guilty of frantically working from a “to do” list, trying to cram in one more item that needs to be checked off, usually running late because I crammed in that one-more-thing, some days chasing my own tail over things that need to be accomplished.  Do I take the time to listen, REALLY listen, when a student wants to tell me what their dog did last night?  Do I remember to check up on people who are facing a hard week?  Sometimes I’m so busy with what needs to happen next, that I forget to live in the moment.  Hearing what others had to say to (A) was a gentle reminder to me… the legacy is in the living.  No one will ever remember what all I accomplished, but how I treated them and the way I cared.  And I can’t wait until later to start, because legacy doesn’t just come at the end (and we never know when that will be), legacy is in the living. 

“Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well.”  1 Thessalonians 2:8