The Plumbline

As I learned of the loss of yet another of the people I have admired in my life, I am reminded this morning of the moments we create each and every day. We have so much opportunity to do good, choosing to be a blessing in the lives of others, but do we always embrace those opportunities? I know I reference our choices so often, but we need to understand just how much each and every one of them matter. There really are NO insignificant choices in life. In fact, each one is noticed - each one is weighed in the balance of right or wrong. Those choices - those moments we create by the choices we make - they are our legacy. What is the legacy you will leave behind when you leave this earth? A good person leaves what they own to their children and grandchildren. But a sinner’s wealth is stored up for those who do right. (Proverbs 13:22) Some believe an inheritance is merely the 'goods' someone leaves behind when they exit this earth. I think it is much, much more. Our 'inheritanc...

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." (Maya Angelou)   As we draw our first breath at the moment of birth, we begin to lay out a legacy by which we will someday be remembered.  Some of us write our life story with glamour, goodness, or even humor. Others find their pages riddled with sadness, disappointment, and dismay. All of us have a "story", but some of us discount the value of the story we have within! The memory of one who lived with integrity brings joy, but the legacy of a wrongdoer will rot away.  (Proverbs 10:7 VOICE) Most of us think of integrity as honesty.  To live a life which bears the hallmark of honesty is truly a great thing, for way too many things in this world are fake.  To go through life unencumbered by the weight of being someone you are not is truly a gift and a legacy I think our youth of today need to see modeled.  There is so much vying for our hearts these days and so many things we can c...

Although much of the Old Testament is written to the nation of Israel, the people God chose to rescue from Egypt and take into a land filled with all manner of blessing, we can learn much by the principles taught and the examples left us there.  It is kind of like hearing the stories of our own families from our grandparents and other elders.  We learn about their struggles, jumping into the midst of the stories with peaked interest, and come away with tidbits of information we only learn because they shared the story.  I kind of think the Old Testament is like that - we come away with peaked interest and tidbits of information which is only available to us because it was written down for our remembrance.  Through the combined "sharing" of the truths and historical accounts which are recorded for us in the books from Genesis to Malachi, we observe instruction in how God wants us live, truths about what is like when we do/don't choose to live this way, and what I wil...

Legacy is really what some would refer to as having something to show for their life - their time, talent, and treasure revealing something which others will be able to remember them by after they are no longer walking this earth. If we were to truly examine the legacy we are creating, I wonder what we'd observe - we might just be a little surprised to see our legacy through the eyes of another, not just how we see ourselves!  If you have ever known someone with Alzheimer's Disease, or some other "memory-altering" affliction, you probably have sat contemplating how the person "used to be" - because that is the legacy you want to remember - not the wasting away of their lives after the disease begins to take them from you.  You want to remember them in their "previous state" because the present just doesn't account for their capabilities or their past experiences.  To the Alzheimer's patient, their world is the past - definitely not the pre...

Legacy:  Anything handed down from the past; something handed down from one period of time to another period of time.  Legacy can be some "thing" such as property; but most importantly, it can be what an individual passes down to the next generation.  There are both good and bad legacies.  Sometimes people call the good legacy an inheritance.  They often call a bad legacy a curse.   Eventually that entire generation died and was buried. Then another generation grew up that didn’t know anything of  God  or the work he had done for Israel. (Judges 2:10 MSG) Eventually...the word which describes the obvious, doesn't it?  We all die - none is immune to the pull of the aging of the body and wearing out of the parts.  The point between birth and death is what determines what we leave when we depart this earth.  It isn't what we leave in a will to the next generation, but what we leave in their heart which really matters.  Yet, ...