Leaving a Legacy

Perhaps it has been all the reading I have been doing lately, some on art history, some for fun.  I have been thinking about leaving a legacy.  Obviously, if you are named in a book on history, or have a chapter all to your self, there is a legacy that is well marked that you have left behind.  Perhaps you developed a cure for a serious illness.  Or carried the Gospel to a foreign land.  Or maybe changed the way the world thinks about something through your discovery or led thousands to Christ.  There may be millions of people whose lives you changed for eternity or whose lives now take on a better quality from your work.

More likely than not, you are none of those things.  You are an ordinary person with ordinary dreams and and ordinary life.  I know I am.  I used to think that I could change the world, but had to come to grips with the reality that I will never discover a cure for cancer, preach to a filled stadium, or sing on stage.  I will never be a professional athlete, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, the President of the Untied States, or the dictator of a foreign country.  I will never climb Mount Everest, swim the English Channel, or fly a plane.  I will never be able to time travel, unlock the mysteries of space, or compose a great symphony.  I am ok with all of that, well, perhaps I still will fantasize about the whole dictator thing, but I am happy where I am.  I never really liked sports anyway, and am not very good at math.   So, where does that leave me?  I will never be mentioned in a history book.  I am not a household name.  I have no great riches, no superpowers, no earthshaking developments in science.

So often we hear inspirational stories, stories of people who are famous, who left a great impact on society or those around them.  I would like to share a story of my own someday, but it is still being written.  You see, my legacy has not been determined by anything I have done, but by something done for me.  I cannot boast great power, prestige, or fame, but I belong to One who can.  My legacy, what I hope to leave my children and the people around me has no monetary value, it is a legacy of faith.  The time spend in ministering to others in the name of Christ, not my own.  The bedtime prayers, morning devotions, and memory verses.  The silliness at Bible Club, wiping noses in the nursery, talking to youth.  My legacy will not lie in the lives of millions, but in the hearts of my children.  I can think of no greater legacy.

And perhaps someday, one of them will do something greater than I.  Or perhaps they will touch the lives of those around them on a small scale.  And ripple by ripple the effect of one heart set afire for God will change the world.