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15 May 2026

 

Your Legacy … What Will It Be ?

Here are some questions for all of us to ponder:

• When other people mention your name, what qualities of mind, soul and heart do they think of?
• What reputation have you created during your lifetime?
• What will people say about you when you are deceased?
• For that matter, what do they say about you now?

To some folks, these questions may seem impertinent, even morose. But as I have aged, these issues assume increasing relevance.

As I have aged, I’ve learned that each day is indeed a lifetime. I’ve also learned that life is not a neutral experience. We have endless opportunities to choose Goodness … or the lack thereof. It is people who make it so.

I’ve also learned that most people do not know nor understand one another well enough to make informed judgments, nor do we customarily trust one another with intimate details about our vulnerabilities and failings. As a result, many of us are labeled with the first impression we make on other people, who assume we are as we first appear.

So, our knowledge of one another is slight. In addition, many people do not even know themselves very well because most of us are programmed into denial by childhood’s silly fallacies and selfish whims. As young children, we soon learn to avoid taunts and truths which bruise our ego.

As years pass, many adults continue to skim along life’s surface like skaters in winter, never facing the depth of need - nor the wealth of meaning - within our souls. Many of us yearn to be listened to and to be heard, but we also fear being known. Soon, we become strangers to ourselves, and maturity eludes us.

For Starters, Faith

The Universe in which we live is incomprehensible. Some people think science and technology have conquered the hidden forces which exist everywhere in Creation. Not so; we are faced with constant mysteries, such as dark matter, dark energy, the red shift, competing forces of gravity which hold the Universe together yet create unimaginable distances, the notions of time and space, on and on. Mystery abounds.

Still, we put great faith in science and technology, and rightly so. Faith is essential in our daily routines, indeed for our very survival. Many times each day, we place our faith in people we’ve never met nor seen (e.g., drivers on the freeway, mechanics who fix our cars). Each day, without conscious deliberation, we make endless acts of faith in the character and judgment of others.

Faith Is A Necessity

So, it is clear that implicit faith in - and reliance on - other people (usually folks we never see) is essential … BUT … this does not mean we grant them our trust. No way; giving and receiving trust is an entirely different category.

Trust involves knowing and accepting vulnerabilities and, sometimes, forgiveness for our foibles. But we rarely take the risk to share our vulnerabilities with anyone. We rarely reveal our deepest selves to others because we pay a price for trusting the wrong people.

For example, many marriages fail because partners have not matured sufficiently to manage the demands of Intimacy and recognize the cautionary dictates of Wisdom which are the true foundations of Matrimony. One reason is that sex is too often mistaken for Intimacy, a common error oft repeated in our misguided world.

Faith And Heart

So, repeated acts of faith are fundamental in human affairs. Since this is so, we may logically conclude that the Mystery of Creation requires both faith in science and religious Faith to make sense. Even if some folks have a problem with God and ignore His right to primacy in our lives, Creation deserves the clarity of Faith.

Thus, when we consider the Mystery of Creation, Faith grants us logical clarity and common sense to realize that God, our Creator, oversees our lives in ways which exemplify and reveal His infinite concern.

It’s true that God’s ways are mysterious. Yet Faith renders God eminently reasonable to the heart and mind. Why?

Because God created the human heart to love and to be loved. This is a Truth about human nature which is freely given to us in the Love and Humility which Christ urges upon us … and which He modeled in His own life.

The cumulative evidence supporting this Divine message is overwhelmingly persuasive. It is a Truth graced with trustworthy simplicity and unfeigned intimacy which lovers learn to share.

Believe It

Our Creator’s will for us is often distorted. Yet God’s purposes are clearly spelled out for us in the Christian Virtues, which are intended to guide our behavior toward God and one another. The Christian Virtues (Faith, Hope, True Love, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance) are the very core of the Good Life. They make God’s messages of Kindness and Goodness eminently clear and socially valuable … if we would only listen and hear - and learn to keep our raging egos in balance.

Christ urges us to believe that God’s Love and Care are ever-present to us … if we would listen and hear. His message is sometimes obscured by our clouded egos and cluttered minds. We may have to look beyond doubts and pain as they assail us, but His message – namely, that we are born to love God and one another - is constant and consistent.

God’s Love for us should create within us a grateful heart as we learn to accept the fact that we are enfolded in the exquisite Mystery of Creation.

And … let us never forget that Love and Forgiveness of one another are central to God’s message. It is Love - properly given and received - that ennobles the heart and saves the soul.

Finally

How does all this relate to our legacy and how we will be remembered by one another?

I can, of course, speak only for myself, but when I am deceased, it would suffice if (1) I am remembered as having written these words and (2) remembered as striving to live them. It would be gratifying if someone said of me: