Week 8 Further Along The Journey

A Legacy by Kurt Olson

Football season is in high gear across this country.  It’s played in the pee wee leagues and all the way to the NFL. Two of the most talked about positions are the quarterback and the receiver, and there have been many legendary players from both of those positions. This isn’t the type of legacy I want to write about today though.  Instead, I would like to look at the basic ideas of these two positions and make some comparisons to the concept of legacy in our own lives. To simply define the roles; as a quarterback, one of your primary job descriptions is to pass the ball, and as a receiver, your primary job is to catch the ball.

Quarterbacks   Quarterbacks need to deliver the ball on target at the right moment when the receiver breaks free. It doesn’t just happen by magic. The quarterback and the receiver work on it together in practice. A pass isn’t just thrown in any direction randomly, but is thrown to a specific spot, and to a specific intended receiver. Admittedly, legacy doesn’t work exactly like that. We don’t get the luxury of practice in giving our legacy to our kids. But when you think about your every-day life, you have the opportunity to raise or lower the legacy bar you are leaving by your actions.

A quarterback doesn’t get into the Hall of Fame by completing just one pass; he gets in because over the course of his career he has completed a number of winning passes.   Each day you can leave a little deposit on your life long legacy. The legacy my Dad left me was telling me that he loved me every day. I know men who have told me they never heard those words once from their fathers. I never had to guess if my Dad loved me. Does that mean that my Dad and I never had words?  No, it doesn’t mean that.  But it is a message I heard from him every day, and I knew he was in my corner and he loved me. 

Receivers  The job of the receiver is to catch the ball. By nature they have the ability to catch passes, whether they are from a great throw, or if they are poorly thrown. That is good news if you are cheering for the receiver in a football game.  However, it might be lousy news if the person you are leaving the legacy to is a great receiver and YOU are throwing a poor legacy message.

I was thinking back on the legacy my wife left my kids. Pam was a well-educated woman, an Electronic Engineer with a degree from Carnegie Melon, and with her Master’s from IIT. When we had our three kids and it came time for them to go to school, Pam decided to build into them more herself, and home schooled them as long as she could before she got sick. She also modeled every day what it looked like to be a Christ follower. My three kids have all decided to be teachers, and more importantly, they all follow Jesus.

Here are some things to consider:

1.      What is the legacy your loved one has left? How has that changed the way you do life?
2.      What is the legacy you are leaving? If the legacy isn’t what you would like others to remember you by, consider this; it’s never too late to change the message.
3.      Start today!

 

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