A Look at the Legacy-Leavers
RHG Magazine & TV Guide TM - Summer 2018 © All rights reserved.
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“Leaving a legacy.” It’s one of those
phrases that feels weighty and important.
Something within us leaps at the idea but
it's also vague and hard to pin down. It’s
certainly the buzzword on the news lately
with the retirement of SCOTUS Justice
Anthony Kennedy.
What DOES it mean to leave a legacy? A
strict dictionary definition defines it
primarily in terms of money - an amount
of money or property left to someone in a
will. A secondary definition is still “sfuff”
focused – a thing handed down by a
predecessor (it’s an effect/consequence
that could be good or bad). But, in recent
years there is more and more being
written about this idea of legacy. Time/life
management books wisely challenge you
to start with the end in mind: to imagine
your funeral and consider what kind of
legacy you want to leave.
Legacy is the idea of being remembered
for what you have contributed to the
world. In some cases, that contribution
can be so noteworthy that history is
changed and the whole world takes note.
Think men and women like William
Wilberforce, Harriet Tubman, Martin
Luther King, Jr., Winston Churchill, etc.
Truthfully, most of us won't fall into that
category. We will leave a more modest
legacy that doesn’t necessarily change the
world but does leave some kind of lasting
footprint on the lives it touches.
The thing that strikes me – whether the
legacy is world-changing or life-changing
– is that I suspect the legacy-leaver was
just a regular, everyday person like you
or me who had been captured by two
things: (1) a vision or calling that
propelled them forward and (2) a desire
to be faithful in light of that vision.
A vision that propelled them. They
didn’t leave a legacy because they were
all about “legacy” for legacy sake.
Something had captured their hearts and
imaginations. Their lives became about
that something that was bigger than
themselves. They went after that ideal or
vision… and ended up having lasting
impact. Take Wilberforce as an example –
a series of events brought him to a place
where he became convinced that slavery
was wrong. He knew he had been placed
in a position of influence for his job so he
used that position in service to the
broader conviction that had captured
his heart. The result was that most of his
adult life was devoted to, first, stopping
the transatlantic slave trade and,
second, outlawing slavery in
England. The vision compelled
him.
A desire to be faithful. For
most legacy-leavers, the impact
came along the way in small,
everyday decisions to act or