Legacy
My Grandma Carr turned 90 years old last month. Amidst the covid-19 issues we tried to make a special day for her. It’s not every day that you turn 90 years old.
Gram is doing rather well. Although we tease her much in light humor, she is doing amazing for her age. She still rides her quad to check the mail each day, still gets after grandkids for walking into the house with muddy feet and to help her get her jobs done, still makes the best vegetable soup around, and is still very opinionated about the condition of my house windows and that my lawn needs cut. We caught her climbing a ladder in her garage a while back. Her gumption to get things done is tenatious. Gram loves things to be in order and cleanliness is a top priority.
I often wonder how Gram has so much energy to clean. I never understood it. If there is nothing to clean, Gram will find something to clean. The intensity she carries to have a house and home in order is top notch. It’s unbelievable. I’ve never known anyone who needed to wash her curtains or dust behind the refrigerator so much. Who would’ve thought?
Although I’m not one to dust places nobody ever sees, I still have learned things in life from Gram. Her work ethic is inspiring, she has a heart to help whenever she can, and she doesn’t mind stopping what she is doing to meet the more immediate needs of others. She was more than willing to help me. When I couldn’t drive due to my accident she took me to therapy and the grocery store. We were a sight, as we both walked with canes, and when we sat next to each other in the car, our deaf ears were right next to each other. We couldn’t hear a thing!
Honestly, Gram has been my biggest supporter as an author, and I love her. She bought the very first book I ever sold. She stops in to check on me, to see how my brain injury is doing, and fills me in on the details of her day. She never stops working.
It made me think.
My wife’s mom just moved in with us. She is a sweet, saint of a woman. Her health has been declining over the last few weeks, months, and needs some help. We retrofitted a downstairs room into a bedroom for her, and her big smile has livened up the Carr house. Being Puerto Rican, I love to greet her with “Hola, guapa!” It makes her happy each and every time. She brings some latin passion into the mix of things, and the visitors that come and go make the home full with energy and fill our extroverted needs.
I began talking with her today a bit about her past. She left Puerto Rico when she was three years old and moved to Brooklyn, New York. Her heritage and Latin background fascinate me. To hear the stories of picking up and moving to the mainland sure are something else.
Makes me think.
My first wife’s grandfather is who we named our son Justin after. Justin Dallas Carr. I’ve never seen a man who has put such faith into action, taking care of his wife in her poor state of health decline. Laying down his own interests, dreams, social needs, and preferences aside, he is the best example I’ve ever seen of how a man sticks with his wife and treats her with the utmost care. The love he demonstrates with action instead of word shines like a light on a hilltop. I truly admire him.
Makes me think.
Legacy.
Legacy is a big word. Merriam-Webster defines Legacy as this: something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.
Makes me think.
I know others have spoken and taught on this subject, but it has really been hitting home to me lately. With the physical changes that I’ve had occur in my life, the perspective and priority shifts that have happened inside me, the word legacy has taken on new meaning and importance.
What will my legacy be?
I want to share this deep thought with you.
Regardless of whether it’s good or bad, something, will be transferred from your life to those who will follow behind you. Others will learn from your life. You may not intend on passing something on, but those who live with and around us pick up on the legacy that we are unknowingly handing off to them. Did my Grandma Selembo ever think that her belief in the Lord would impact me so much? Did my Grandpap Carr ever dream that his late-in-life encounter with Jesus would change me in such a way? At least to me, his life can be summed up in one profound sentence: there is no limit to what God can do with the powerful message of forgiveness. What a legacy! This truth, this profound mystery of God’s grace, I will cherish his legacy forever.
When I no longer could work at the farm I suddenly felt devastated. It took months to grieve and process that loss. I could see it written on the sleeves of Brad and Justin’s shirt; I could read it in their eyes. I think the boys figured that teaching them farmlife would be the legacy I handed off to them. God may be working something so much better.
What difference will my life make to the lives of others?
In regard to legacy, what am I intentionally working for that will make an impact on the people around me? What impact are you making?
Each of us have a choice as to what our legacy will be. Some will hoard a pile of money up to give to the next generation. Some may pass on items of value, heirlooms, or sentimental objects of significance. Some may pass on a business, a corporation, or the family estate. Is there more to life than these things? I’ve never been a man of money. It’s just not important to me. But I do work on my legacy each and every day.
I want my legacy to be plain and clear in the eyes of others. I want to make a lasting impact on the faith of those that follow behind me. I want people to see that God can take a broken life and “work it for good” because I love him, and I’ve been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). I want my loved ones to see that I wasn’t afraid to take the cup that the Lord portioned for me to live out and drink, and run with it, never looking back. I want many more books to be written that help thousands. I want to be a lighthouse for Jesus, one that others will say always stood tall and strong, not for myself, but for the joining together of the hands of men with God. I want my children to know that there is nothing in life more important to me than to live for Jesus, love him with all I have, and follow his ways.
If I do that, my legacy will be worth much more than a pile of money.
It will be eternal.
And I’ll be a happy man.
My challenge to you today is to take a look at what you are living for. Your legacy will be cemented into the minds of those around you one way or another. Be careful how that cement dries. Dried handprints in stone last a long time. You will make more impact than you think.
By Chuck Carr