What Will Your Legacy Represent?

Today, all of us are building a legacy and one day each of us will have our life story spoken of. We are all in a position to have some influence over how we have lived our lives and how we have added to the lives of others, so what do you represent...?

Do you represent a person who could be trusted or have you abandoned trust for rumors and gossip?

Do you represent someone who is filled with laughter or have you replaced laughter with pity-parties and your gloom and doom?

Do you represent someone who taught your children the meaning of Christ, love, integrity, character, honesty, and self-respect or did you only praise them for good grades and cleaning their rooms?

Do you represent someone who lives what they speak or are you someone who is just filled with meaningless words?

Do you stand for something of honor or do you blow in the direction of whatever sounds good for the moment?

Do you treat those given to you with love and respect, or have you used, abused, abandoned and taken them for granted?

Do you represent someone who continues to live with fear, guilt and shame or have you given yourself permission to forgive knowing Christ did long ago?

Do you represent someone who understands that freedom is a choice and every day that you live in shackles mean that you chose wrong?

Do you understand that people will look at the “fruit” you have produced and will conclude, "therein lies his legacy?"

Every day we make a choice and everyday one of them is wrong. Choose to leave a legacy that speaks to the person that God has created and grown you to be. It’s the only legacy that is worth leaving behind. Anything short of that is a legacy not worth mentioning.

It's too late...

There are so many missed opportunities and missed loves. We have spent so much time on the non-essentials in life versus focus on what is important, meaningful and long lasting. We chase the cars, the money, the homes, the vacations and the dreams that may never materialize all the while, losing family, friendships, and ourselves. We live with the hope that someone else’s success can be ours if we would just partner up with them instead of partnering up with God, praying, sacrificing and putting in a little sweat equity.

We become engrossed in the glitz and glam, fine dining and meaningless conversations. We have mastered the act of acting in order to hide our own inadequacies. At night you think, “I won, they like me and soon, I’m going to be one of them,” while really inside you know you will never be. You see, the difference between you and them is that they kept what was important first. They knew that compromising their relationship with our Master and the integrity of loved ones for a self-serving attitude never wins.

You look back on your life only to realize that you’ve been here before. Its familiarity is overwhelming and the stench burn your eyes. You have been thrown into a blinding realization that you have not advanced, have not grown and have missed opportunities and loves. The people you praised, worshipped and sweated don’t even know your name or return your calls. In fact, they run from you because your character is skewed, your choices are selfish and there is nothing about you that speaks to honesty.

Time did not stand still and everyone has moved on but you. You’ve got nothing to show for yourself and the fruit you have produced are covered with maggots. It is rotten to the very core. You never took a moment while you were on your chase to notice that you were responsible for your missed opportunities and loves.

Now, you are trying to resurrect the dead and give what was lost some life. You're trying to water it, nurture it and revive it. You have lost and you have missed the opportunity. It’s too late.