Living Legacy

There are always witnesses to our lives, those around us who see and are impacted by who we are and what we do.  None of us live in isolation even if we live alone.  For those of us who are married, our spouse, children and grandchildren not only hear what we say we believe and value but they also see how we live and whether what we say is actually how we live our lives.  Pretty hard to fool them!

The question we all have to ask ourselves is what is revealed about us by how we live and the choices we make.  What ultimately is the legacy of our life?

According to Webster's dictionary, "legacy" is defined as "something received from an ancestor or predecessor".  What, of course, we understand from this is what is left when you're dead.

But I want to suggest that all of us leave a legacy during our lifetime and not simply at the time of our death.  What does our life say to others about what matters most to us?

So what is your legacy?  What is mine?

In the last number of months, I have enjoyed seeing the reaction of people when I tell them that Richard and I are planning on leaving Canada, our family, our jobs, our home, our "life", our culture to go and live and work in the Congo.  We've had this discussion with people at church, at work, with our family, neighbours, my hairdresser, our doctor, lawyer and banker.  And I would say that all of their reactions could be summed up in this one word :  "REALLY?"

For some "really?" means "Are you absolutely crazy?  Why on earth would you do something like that at this point in your life??"

For others "really?" means "Better you than me!  I could never do that!"

And then there are those whose "really?" means "I wish I had the nerve, courage and opportunity to do something like that!"

It's made me think a lot about why we would do this at this point in our lives.  I mean, why are we going? 

Come back another day and I'll share those reasons with you...