Peter Drucker, considered the greatest business consultant to ever live, claims that when he was in high school, thinking about his legacy had shaped him so profoundly as an adult.
He related: When I was 13, I had an inspiring teacher of religion, who went right through the class of boys asking each one, ‘What do you want to be remembered for?’ None of us, of course, could give an answer. He chuckled and said, ‘I didn’t expect you to be able to answer it. But if you can’t answer it by the time you’re 50, you’ll have wasted your life.’ We eventually had a 60th reunion of that high school class. Most of us were still alive, but we had not seen each other since we graduated, and so the talk at first was a bit stilted. Then one of the fellows asked, ‘Do you remember Father Pfliegler and that question?’ We all remembered it. And each one said it had made all the difference to him, although they didn’t understand it until they were in their 40s. Using this question as a guide along your journey induces you to renew yourself, because it pushes you to see yourself as a different person–the person you can become. (Richard Simmons III, The legacy we leave behind, 8/9/16).
What is a legacy? Webster defines it as something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. Leaving a meaningful legacy does not happen by accident. We need to have a great deal of passion toward a personal value or set of beliefs.
Here are five exercises to design our legacy:
1) Write a six-word memoir, Larry Smith’s brainchild, a simple way to get the essence of who you are and what matters most to you.
2) Create your own visualization. Imagine yourself as an elderly person rocking in a chair. Ask yourself: What have I achieved? What have I done for the world? Use your senses, and record your voice narrating those memories as if you had achieved them already.
3) Write your own obituary confronts you with your eventual death, hence, it is a powerful, moving experience. When death comes, all excuses vanish. Crafting your own obituary urges you to live your life the way you want to be remembered.
4) Write a legacy letter, similar to a will but the emphasis is on the wisdom and impact you want to give others.
5) Define your values, the foundation of your legacy.
As parents, we, too, have a responsibility to plan what we will leave to our children. John Miller sums it up: “If parents give money to their children, they may lose it in some of life’s vicissitudes. If they bequeath them a home of splendor, they may be driven out of it. If they pass down to them a heritage, an honored name, they may sully it. But if they fill their hearts with the holy influences and memories of a happy Christian home, no calamity, no great sorrow, no power of evil, no earthly loss, can ever rob them of their sacred possessions.”
The first legacy of parents is the gospel. We may leave our children with full pockets but with empty souls, and we will have neglected our most important duty.
God calls us to diligently teach and train our children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4), and to trust that as we do so, they will respond to the gospel by putting their faith in Jesus Christ. We should also share this same gospel to others. There is nothing in the world more precious than souls and no greater legacy than souls won for the Lord.
The second legacy is godliness. Paul celebrated this kind of legacy in his friend Timothy’s background in this verse: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.” (2 Timothy 1:5)
What footprint will you leave in the sand of time? Building our legacy is our life purpose…so let’s start now.
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