I’ve been wondering for days what to write about LEGACY, which was last week’s prompt word for Five Minute Friday. I nearly didn’t. Legacy is not something we talk about so much, but it’s important. As Christians, we should aim to be people that leave a good legacy in the lives of others. And it’s not a five-minute job (my blog posts rarely are).
I started writing this before I heard about the death of Charlie Kirk. He may not have lived as long as others,
but he certainly left a strong legacy for his family, and young people of
America, and many, many others, including people in other countries like mine.
We all do leave a legacy, whether intentionally, or by default.
This was AI’s take on the definition of legacy:
A legacy is the
lasting impact a person leaves on the world after they die, which can be
tangible (like money or property) or intangible (like memories, values, wisdom,
and influence). It encompasses everything a person's life has taught them,
how they've made others feel, and the contributions they've made to causes or
people that matter most to them.
It was a helpful
definition, but I think it’s possible to leave a legacy in someone’s life
without actually dying. I’ve been alive long enough to know
that there are seasons where you live and work closely with people and then
that season is over, but they left you a strong legacy. They may have moved on, but you are forever
changed because of their impact on your life.
And you can look back and see what you learned from them, how you were
shaped by them, for better or worse.
You can’t always see it at the time.
It’s good to look back and remember those who have had input into your
life and to be grateful for the good, and for the hard.
Give instruction to a
wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will
increase in learning. Prov 9:9
Iron sharpens iron, and
one man sharpens another. Prov 27:17
Show yourself in all
respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity,
dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned……………. Titus 2:7
The Lord places people in our lives in different seasons for different
reasons.
Some are there to teach us, to mentor us, to model certain things for us.
Some are there to be a support network for us when we need it most.
Some are there to challenge us, to simply be the iron that sharpens
iron.
Some are there to lead us down a certain path for a certain amount of time
and then it’s time to go in different directions.
Each of them leaves a legacy in your life that you can build on, or
not.
I believe some people are put in our lives to help us heal. That is the legacy that the Lord has ordained
and purposed for us to receive through them.
That’s certainly the case for those currently in my life.
I’ve spent several years now healing from the effects of abuse in various
forms, in key relationships. It’s been
a long, arduous process that was much harder and deeper and more painful than I
could have imagined, but very necessary, and I am in a much healthier place in
every way.
A few years back, the Lord showed me a very powerful picture that represented
me. It was a large, concrete building
that had several storeys and lots of windows.
The first time He showed me, it was grey and the foundations were pretty
shaky. And the underground car park was
a dark place, full of ‘dysfunction’.
The next time He showed it to me, there was colour. Each window was a different colour, and the
building was near a shoreline and a town centre. The building was much stronger and more
accessible and had paths around it. The
foundations were being made strong, and the underground car park was flooded
with light and life.
That transition describes the healing journey I’ve been on. I’m not completely healed. Last year, I thought I was done, but I have
spent most of this year becoming aware of and processing ‘triggers’ from
previous relationships, as they get triggered by current ones. That’s been rather painful and deep, and
much of it done in the secret place, with Him.
Like my artwork, my healing is a work in progress. I will be developing this artwork and seeing
what the Lord wants to show me through it.
I think sometimes art that is a work in progress speaks more profoundly
than something that is polished and finished.
We are always going to be a work in progress until we meet Him, so I need
to stop wanting it to be done and be content to let Him do what He wants, how
He wants it done.
……being confident of
this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will
complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Phil 1:6
……… work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works
in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Phil 2:12-13
Today, I simply want to honour the legacy of my current pastors, Chris and
Carolyn, who haven’t moved on and I hope they don’t any time soon. This blog post has been burning in my spirit
for the last few days, and I believe we need to say these kinds of things of
people, and to people, when we have opportunity, not after they’ve moved on
from this season of our lives.
For healing to happen, I needed to have people around me who could see what
the Lord wanted to do in me and for me, and to then be the people that I could
learn to trust with my pain and my story.
And there have been quite a few people, some with significant input, and
others with a smaller part to play. I
don’t want to try and name them all, because I’ll miss someone for sure.
Because of Chris and Carolyn’s willingness to be available, to be people that I could learn to trust (that’s been a difficult journey in itself), to love me as is, to listen, to hold space for my tears, to be faithful prayer warriors, to be my spiritual covering, to be wise counsellors when tough decisions have to be made, and to be faithful leaders and teachers of our church family, I have healed. They have made our church family a safe place for me to be and to stay and to grow, in connection with other believers who have become very dear to me. I came into this church very broken and very wary, ready to run and hide, and I have wanted to several times. Without their covering and their faithfulness, I would have run for sure.
The Lord has been about building strength into that ‘building’, reworking
the foundations, fixing what was broken, solidifying what was right. When the Lord showed me the colour version
of the building, I saw an animation, if you like, of Chris and Carolyn planting
pink flowers around the sides of the building.
Pink often signifies healing. I
had no idea at the time that they would be my pastors (Carolyn was my
unofficial counsellor at the time). I
didn’t realise what part they would go on to play in my healing journey over the
next few years. I thought that the
planting of pink flowers would be a quick process but it hasn’t been. It’s taken hours and days and weeks and years
of good pastoring.
Their legacy in my life, in our lives, is huge. They have impacted my youngest two daughters
as well, in different ways. And it will
indirectly impact my other daughters and their families as time goes on,
because hurting people hurt people, but healed people help others heal.
I know they’re tired and they probably wonder if they’re doing any good,
but I can see growth in many of the people in our church. Like growth in children, it’s often
incremental, hard to see and hard to measure, but it’s there. People who have been hurt elsewhere are
healing. People who have needed to hear
some hard truths are hearing them, presented with truth and grace. People who have just needed to be seen are
being seen. People who need to grow in
their gifts are being encouraged. People
who are looking for a safe place to find family are finding it because of their
leadership.
Is it perfect? No, it isn’t, because
there is no perfect church this side of heaven. The more we look for perfect, the more frustrated we will become. Perfect is found in God alone, and when we
start there, making Him our portion, our first port of call, our ‘enough’, we
can appreciate what others are able to do for us.
And now, I can actually be someone that can help others, because of their
modelling, because of their support, because they have poured into me. Recently, Chris saw a picture of a well, and
that I was drawing water out of this well for women - life-giving water, each
scoop a different colour according to the need of the woman in front of me,
because of what God has done in me and taught me, because of my lived
experience. That takes me back to the
building with different-coloured windows.
I knew at the time that each colour signified a different need in people
and that the light of Jesus was going to shine through and be what that person
needed at the time. I can’t meet all
needs, but I sure would like to help those God puts in front of me, and I can
do that now, in large part because of the legacy they have given me.
One of the key verses He
gave me through this whole process was this one.
But may the God of all grace, who
called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a
while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 1 Pet 5:10
The Lord has done
exactly that, because of the support provided by Chris and Carolyn. While the Lord is building strength into
us, and establishing us, and settling us, we need others to be our support
networks, like the scaffolding around a building. That is their legacy, not just in my life,
but in the lives of others I do life with, and I’m incredibly grateful.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Heb 10:24-25
Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in
heaven. Matt 5:16
I was looking for a song
based on 1 Peter 5:10 and I found this gem.
I’ve walked through fire
Felt the weight of the
night
But You never let go,
You held me through the
fight
Every tear, every trial
Was shaping something
new
Your grace was the
anchor
That carried me through
After the storm, You restore
Make me strong forevermore
You call me to glory,
You lift me again
By the power of Christ
I stand in the end
Firm and unshaken,
faithful and true –
You are the God who sees
me through
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