Build A Legacy You Can Be Proud Of
"The good man shall give inheritance unto his children’s children..." Proverbs 13:22
"He that walketh in his integrity, is just, and blessed shall his children be after him." Proverbs 20:7
"Her children rise up, and do her reverence." Proverbs 31:28
“The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” Pericles (Greek statesman of Athens who died in 429 BC). “So carve your name on hearts, not tombstones.” – Shannon L. Alder.
In other words, your legacy means the accomplishments, beliefs, actions and guidance you demonstrate in your lives - that carry forward to future generations in a fashion which allow those family members to adopt and adapt them to make their lives meaningful and fruitful.
Usually when people pass away there is a huge focus on the things they owned and who gets what. But what if the most important gift we can give our descendants is not a tangible item, but a piece of ourselves?
What things do you want people to say about you after your gone? What stories will they share? What memories will you leave in people’s minds and hearts?
"The only thing you take with you when you’re gone is what you leave behind." ~ John Allston
Your legacy. It's something you create during your life solely to benefit future generations, something you may never see come to fruition. Just like a farmer who plants a tree knowing he'll never taste its fruits, a legacy is a gift you leave behind without expecting anything in return. The legacy we leave is part of the ongoing foundations of life. Those who came before leave us the world we live in. Those who will come after will have only what we leave them. We are stewards of this world, and we have a calling in our lives to leave it better than how we found it, even if it seems like such a small part.
Just like that farmer's sprouting tree, legacies don't happen overnight—and they don't happen by accident. There's this enormous craving, this desire for people in their maturity to share what they've learned, to pass on lessons of a lifetime, to teach, to feel that their life experience is being invested, even planted, into the field of tomorrow.
As someone once said, "Our children are messengers we send to a time we will not see."
A legacy may take many forms – children, grandchildren, a business, an ideal, a book, a community, a home, some piece of ourselves.
Don’t make money the end goal.
One Hundred Years from Now (by Forest Witcraft)
"One hundred years from now
It will not matter
What kind of car I drove,
What kind of house I lived in,
How much money was in my bank account,
Nor what my clothes looked like.
But the world may be a better place because
I was important in the life of a child."
Gerontologist and author Ken Dychtwald conducted a recent survey focusing on elder generations and their baby boomer children. He and colleagues at his company, Age Wave, discovered four "pillars of legacy": values and life lessons, instructions and wishes to be fulfilled, possessions of emotional value, and property and money. When asked which pillar meant the most to them, both groups answered resoundingly: values and life lessons. "There's this enormous craving, this desire for people in their maturity to share what they've learned, to pass on lessons of a lifetime, to teach, to feel that their life experience is being invested, even planted, into the field of tomorrow," Dychtwald says. "There was also a similar response—a natural, innate appetite on the part of younger generations—to receive that."
Start at the end.
- When I am gone from this planet and my children are reflecting and remembering me, what do I hope will be their most powerful memories of the time we had together?
- What do I want written about me in my obituary?
- What are the stories, memories, and influences I hope to leave behind for my children’s children, and others for whom I hope to have influenced?
Little things are the most long-lasting.
Often it's the smallest, most seemingly insignificant, or even boring things are the things our children will remember long after we are gone. Bike rides, bubble baths, making cookies, singing silly songs loudly, hide-and-seek on rainy days, and hopscotch on the sidewalk — these are a pivotal part of what we will leave behind.