“The memory of the righteous is blessed.” Proverbs 10:7
An Average American will live 28,762 days. By our 70th birthday, we would have approximately spent:
- 25.6 years sleeping.
- 19 years working.
- 12.3 years watching television and playing.
- 6.7 years eating.
- 2.2 years getting ready.
- 1.1 years going to church
When we pass from the face of planet Earth, we will leave behind a memory with those we leave behind. What will that memory be like?
The Bible says in Proverbs 10:7, “The memory of the righteous is blessed.” A person who leads a righteous life will leave behind a memory that is blessed. Another way of saying this is that a righteous person will leave behind a blessed legacy.
What is a legacy?
According to Merriam-Webster, a legacy is “…money or property left to someone by a will; bequest; anything handed down from, or as from, an ancestor.” Most definitions of the word legacy dealt with money and property.
For our purposes, legacy will mean “the values and traditions of life you hand down to your children, your family, your church and your community.”
How important is a legacy? When I visit a person who is in their last days, they never say, “I should have spent more time with my business or career.”
Whenever I do a funeral, I interview the family and ask them to talk about the deceased. They never talk about how much money their loved one made or how materialistically successful they were or were not. They normally reminisce about the values and traditions they instilled in the lives of family and friends.
What will your descendants say about you when you pass from this life into the next? What they say, what they remember and how they live their lives will be your legacy.
Here are the first two of nine thoughts about legacy that might be helpful to you.
1. Everyone leaves a legacy.
Whether you want to or not, everyone leaves a legacy. You will hand down either lessons for life or leftovers from life. You can be either pro-active or passively-active regarding your legacy. Regardless, everyone leaves a legacy. There is no avoiding it.
2. Everyone has been left a legacy.
Your main legacy-leavers were probably your parents. Other legacy leavers are family members, spiritual leaders, teachers and coaches to name a few. Many of your values and actions are the result of a legacy.
Legacies impact everyone one way or another.
Something to think about and more to come…