Why Legacy?

"Legacy is a strategic commitment to link your
resources through covenantal relationships
to your generational responsibilities, which
will result in an eternal reward."
Legacy Now, p. 5

Everything you do (or don't do) matters.

One warm summer night in 1961 my father brought home something I had never seen before: a television set. I remember the first program I ever watched was the candy factory episode of I Love Lucy. I was almost six. My grown children, now inching into their thirties, have enjoyed the same program many times, and likely, my one-year-old grandson will see it at some point. We lived in El Paso, Texas, and with the rabbit ears could pick up two channels. On Saturday nights we watched Gunsmoke and on Sunday nights it was Bonanza. Once in a while on Saturday mornings we caught episodes of Mighty Mouse, Sky King or Fury.

I have absolutely no recollection of sitting around the tv for hours on end the way people do today. Television was a very insignificant part of our lives. My memories instead include roller skating on steel skates, riding bikes, swimming, jumping rope, and reading lots of books in the hot part of the day. We even built our own skate boards when we lived on Silver Street. There was a long, steep hill from my house to the bottom of the block, and we would ride those homemade skate boards in the middle of the street, from the top to the bottom, nonstop. On weekend nights, we would play hide-and-go-seek until midnight when we would reluctantly retreat inside after our parents summoned us more than once. Even as a teenager I was either sewing, playing basketball, or holding down at least one job. Everything you do (or don't do) matters.

On to the title of my blog: Legacy. Legacy has been stirring in my heart for several months now. Pondering such lends itself to some very sobering conclusions. Unless one is acutely aware of how far-reaching one's actions, attitudes, and beliefs are, and how lineage is forever affected, much of our day-to-day routine will be just that: routine. Not necessarily meaningless, but liable to be lost in the shuffle of "ho-hum" and "who cares." So I ask myself the question: What kind of a legacy am I leaving? To this day I credit my mother, in particular, for setting such an example of standard and work ethic that I see little purpose in the mindless television watching that seems not only to mesmerize much of society but in some ways cripple creativity and stunt relationship growth. What will my children, grandchildren, even the random person crossing my path take away that will affect THEIR legacy? Everything you do (or don't do) matters.

So! I have decided to write this blog and relate it to legacy. Before you hit that little red X up in the corner, sending this to cyberspace trash, allow me to note that this will not be just a cute little collection of family stories, although those may occasionally enter in for the sake of illustration. The goal is to explore rarely-considered territory of legacy by delving into its heart through the back roads of seemingly unrelated subjects. I hope you will join me from time to time, because, everything you do (or don't do) matters.