Bob Crowder Family
Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children…
What is your legacy? What will people remember you by? How will they remember you?
When my oldest son was in the five or six, we were sitting in our den in Coast Guard housing in Elizabeth City, North Carolina just listening to some Christian music. He was enjoying the music, but as I was watching him, his facial expression changed. I asked him if he would like to listen to something else and he said no. I asked him if he was ‘ok’ and he said he was.
Suddenly, as if working up the courage, he asked me the most difficult question I ever had to answer.
“Daddy, when I get older, will I look like you?” I laughed and said that I certainly hope not, you will be much better looking than me. He said, “no, I mean will I look like you?’ “Do you want to look like me” I asked. His reply took the wind right out of my sails, to coin a nautical statement. “Yes” he replied.
I now knew that I had a very serious question that needed an answer, but I didn’t know where to start. So I just asked that juvinile question, “Why would you want to look like me?’ His answer hit me in the gut.
“I want to look like you so that after you are dead, that people will see you in me.”
I am not an emotional man that cries easily, but tears started flowing freely, I was humbled, proud, happy and awed by his desire. I just hugged him and told him that while he probalby would not look just like me, people indeed would see me in him by the kind of man he grew up to be. That seemed to satisfy him and we listened to more music. As we did, I thought about the verse, “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children..”. How important is the legacy or inheritance that we leave behind us? I would say it is priceless.
What is a legacy if nothing more than the imprint that you leave on this world? People will remember you not so much from the pictures they see of you, but by your actions and the indelible imprint on you will have on the lives of others.
This is a difficult subject, and yet, by centering our thinking in this way, we could change our current actions into ones that will be remembered in the way we would want them to be remembered. All our actions of yesterday are just that. They are in the past. We can make a change starting today!
What will your legacy be?