legacy

Words are the most powerful weapon and have a long-lasting impact. May we live and leave behind a legacy of love and hope through the words we speak.

Have you ever been encouraged by someone else’s words? A friend? A family member? A teacher perhaps?

The word encourage is defined as “to speak courage into”. To speak courage into! How many times have we needed that in our own lives? And what a great comfort when we find it. Some of the best words stick with us for a lifetime. Their power seems only to increase when the one who spoke them is no longer around.

Legacy of Love

This year has been one of those years where I have visited the funeral home far too many times and the newborn nursery not nearly enough. The world has lost a lot of good men. But when I begin to think back on some of the truly great people I have known in my life, I realize they are never truly gone. Their words still linger long after their physical bodies have left this world behind. They have left a legacy of love and light that inspires the rest of us to be better.

Listening to all of these eulogies got me to thinking, what do I want to be remembered for when I am gone? What do I want to leave behind?

Words Matter

While words can be used to bring people together, they can also be used to rip them apart. Just one quick glance on social media tells you that words are oftentimes used more like a sword to cut people down than a hand to lift them up. If you want to see just how hateful and vile man can be, look no further than the comment section of any news post.

Words are the most powerful weapon any of us have. The words we speak to others, the words we speak to ourselves, have a long-lasting impact that will persist long after any physical injustices have healed.

The most useful piece of advice you learn in any writing class is the significance of the first and last sentence—this is the main impression you will leave your audience with. In the beginning of the Bible, the very first official act, God speaks light into existence. What greater example could He leave us with?

And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:3-4

Speak Light

Our words have the power to build people up or tear them down. They have the ability to encourage or inhibit. Our words can promote peace or harbor hate. Each moment, each breath, each word we speak. We only get one choice, so what will it be?

The tongue can bring death or life;
Proverbs 18:21a, NLT

Each day is a new chance to choose, choose wisely. While things are stronger where they were once broken, if not allowed to heal properly, they leave scar tissue that never fully heals. Be the balm that soothes the weary soul, the cast that helps strengthen someone’s broken areas.

Use your words to build people up, so they can rise up!

Speak Life

Not only did God speak light into existence, but He spoke life into existence.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.”
Genesis 1:26

But God did not just create life, He created us to live that life fully and with purpose.

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John 10:10

And there is no greater way to live a life in abundance than by giving to others. There is no greater purpose than to love others and bring them to the One who is Love. Sometimes we may have nothing more to give than our kindness–our kind words, our kind deeds. Currency is not only made of green paper.

In my job, we are required to take a CPR class every two years to learn how to resuscitate someone if the need ever arises. Luckily, it hasn’t. But I wonder, how many times have I come across someone in need of emotional resuscitation? Someone who needs me to breathe life back into their situation? Or someone who needed me to circulate fresh air—a fresh way of seeing things—into their lives? How many times have you? And how many times have we been too busy to even recognize the warning signs?

Words Pierce the Darkness

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1,4-5

May our words be used to build others up, today and every day. Let our words be the balm that soothes the weary soul. Let our words be the light that leads people out of the darkness. Finally, let our words be the light that leads others to salvation through Christ.

There is no greater way to live a life in abundance than by giving to others. There is no greater purpose than to love others and bring them to the One who is Love. Click To Tweet

Anita Austvika

Who has begun the legacy of love in your life, teaching you of God’s love? How will you continue this legacy of influencing others?

The warm sun came streaming in the window like a loving hug surrounding me as I stretched awake. The sound of waves crashing over the shore was so soothing and exciting at the same time. My little legs quickly kicked the covers off. I started demanding breakfast, my swimsuit, and when could we go out. Not the best way to wake up the adult you are sleeping with. I probably would fuss at my kids. My grandfather, though, joined in with as much childlike enthusiasm as his 6’2″ frame could contain. Genuine love beaming through every pore. My grandmother was already up, fixing a big farm style breakfast in the little camper that served as home for the week we stayed at Arrowhead Campground in Myrtle Beach, SC every summer of my childhood.

She turned and smiled with love and patience. It made me feel every wonderful and loving feeling all at one time. “Slow down, pumpkin. Let’s eat a bite, take our time getting dressed, and then we will hit the waves.” My grandma wrapped me in a hug that emoted so much love I can still close my eyes and feel how much heart was in the simple gesture. I can even smell the warm sweetness and the clean fresh natural smell that wafted from her.

My grandfather would say grace – a little long winded for my young wiggly body – as I waited for my turn to say “AMEN” with loud enthusiasm. As we ate, I was not just allowed to talk about whatever subject was rushing in and out of my little girl mind, but encouraged in my flights of fancy.

As we packed up our cooler and put on bathing suits and sunscreen my grandmother would sing. My favorite was “I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart.” And I did. Great Joy. Joy for the beach, joy for my family, and joy for the God they were teaching me to love.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

Psalms 36:7, ESV

Legacy: Living by Example

Love is a natural human emotion, but we are taught how to express it. My parents did a great job of teaching me what love was. They took me to church, encouraged me to find my true purpose and listen to God’s call. They came to everything I was a part of. I learned so many wonderful lessons from them, but my grandmother taught me the most about God’s love.

Love is a natural human emotion, but we are taught how to express it. Click To Tweet

She shared her love for our Savior with open abandon. You knew within the first thirty seconds of meeting her that she was a Christian in the marrow of her bones. No one ever left her presence not knowing that she loved them because Jesus loved them more.

I remember one time a lady came to her house to pick up a skirt my grandmother had made for her. My grandmother was a seamstress by trade and ran a small business out of her house. The lady who came was obviously poor and spoke very little english. My grandmother smiled that same warm smile that shined through her eyes, that she showed me. She asked the lady about her family and patiently listened as the lady told her about the hardships that their family was going through. My grandmother invited her to church, offered to come visit sometime soon, and told her she would put her family on her prayer list. The lady smiled with equal warmth. You could almost feel her burden lift a little. She paid my grandmother with a few dollars and a pie.

That night when we got to the part of our devotional where we lifted people up in prayer, my grandmother prayed for the lady and her family. Living life in service of others wasn’t lip service to her, it was a biblical imperative. She prayed daily. Read her bible and devotional nightly; even when she was too sick to get up out of bed. God’s love came through her until her last breath was taken.

For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.

2 Corinthians 9:13, ESV

Legacy: Teaching Others

When my grandmother was at a hospice house the last few months of her life, she was still ministering to others. We would go visit and the nurses, other patients, and their families would tell us how much she meant to them. How they loved her. She loved them all right back. Every night she and my grandfather would read their devotional and pray. She would list them all by name. She would tell others everyday how much she loved them and how much God loved them.

One of the last times I came to visit she was sitting in the common room and there were three other families in there too. A nurse came in with a therapeutic golden retriever who nudged its head under my grandmother’s hand. She gave me the same smile, talked a few minutes and then asked me to read Revelations 21 outloud for everyone.

…The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city wea pure gold, like transparent glass.

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day – and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelations 21:18-27, ESV

When I was done she looked at me and said, “That is what is waiting for me.” Then she took the hand of the nurse who had walked in and smiled at her. “That is what is waiting for all of us. God is so good, honey.” I broke down, put my head in her lap and cried. She lifted my chin and said, “Pumpkin, I love you, God loves you, we will always be with you.”

Legacy: Teaching Others to Teach

A few weeks later, right before she passed away, we all went to see her one more time. They were pumping her so full of pain medication she barely knew who we were. I spent three minutes with her right before I left. The fog seemed to lift for those three minutes. She smiled at me with all her love, she hugged me tight and that feeling of warm love enveloped me.

She patted my hair. “Why are you so sad, pumpkin?”

“I’m going to miss you so much. I love you, grandma.”

“I love you too, baby. We have made so many memories. I will live in your heart forever.”

I promised I would share her love and lessons with my children and that I would try to live the life that she wanted for me.

Your turn…

Who is the person who brings God’s love closer to you? How do they inspire you to draw closer to God?

Dear God,

Thank you for blessing my childhood and early adulthood with Virginia Vernon. You could not have given me a better earthly example of loving You than her. Help me to live the life You have planned for me. Help me to love others in the way You desire for us to love others, fully and without reservation.

Love,

Annie Spratt

Words: Living and Leaving Behind A Legacy of Love and Hope