When you think of the word “legacy”, you might think of an inheritance — anything handed down from the past, from an ancestor or member of a previous generation.  

Yet your true legacy includes not only the things you leave behind when you leave this world.  The impressions and footprints you leave behind at the end of each day are an invisible but powerful part of your legacy.  

Everyone desires to be liked, loved, recognized and remembered by others in the community after they are gone.  But have you ever asked yourself, “How would I like people to remember me while I’m alive?”

In all of history there have been many great men and women who have carved their names on the hearts of others by leaving behind the mark of their beautiful lives. We’re drawn to them. Though we can’t see them any longer or hear their voices, we remember them. We honor their history, cherish their lives and share their stories generation after generation. Throughout their lives, they built their legacy day in and day out and in the process, left their fingerprints on the world and changed many lives forever. They worked for the cause, not for the applause. Many didn’t seek to make their presence known, but their absence is felt.

What about you and me? Can we be the ones who make a difference in someone’s life? Can we improve the lives of others by practicing love, honesty, selflessness, compassion, and generosity? If so, we will leave a great inheritance to the community (children, family, friends and others) blessed by our endowment. After all, we’re the ones who get to choose the legacy that we leave.  I don’t know about you, but I want people to remember that I have loved well, even when the love was not reciprocated. You might say, “How can I love those who are against me or dislike me?” The answer is,  my faith and belief compel me to pray for them, and prayer is an act of love.

The word of God tells us, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  [1 Corinthians 13:7] “The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!” [Proverbs 20:7]

The legacy of LOVEis the richest legacy of all. Here is how it’s described in the law of God: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ”[Luke 10: 27]

A life’s legacy can be like a great show on the stage of life — the greater your performance the more likely people will remember you after you leave the stage. But at the end of the day, the quality of your legacy will come down to one great thing: How did the people whose lives you touched benefit from the love you gave? How we live and how we make others feel is not only how we are remembered, but partly determines the quality of their lives too.For that reason, we must be mindful of how we live our lives…