Legacy has so many meanings, and when choosing this word, I discovered that the primary definition is related to money or property. The first definition in Websters is exactly that, “a gift by will.”  To my surprise, none of the three main definitions in Websters focus on the legacy of an individual and the impact we each have on the lives we touch. I was certain that one of them would define the word as how an individual impacts the lives of others. When I think of a person’s legacy, I do not think of money or their name on a building, I think of how they lived their lives and what they did to make their piece of the world a better place.

God does not ask us to change the world, He simply asks that no matter our station in life, that we strive to make things better for those whose lives we touch. I was sitting in my office when the man who comes in to clean three days a week stopped in and said hello. He made me smile and brought with him a joy in a moment when it was needed most. You see this man is developmentally disabled and yet he has impacted every life around him in ways that I cannot begin to truly describe. Despite his 62 years of age, there is an innocence about him that make me wish we all had a bit of that same view of the world around us. His legacy will be one of kindness, and a joy that the rest of us will never understand as we concentrate on the other definitions of legacy. This man, whom I have known my entire life, reminds me every day of what legacy should mean.

Truly the greatest of all legacies is the one left by a man, born in a place set aside for animals, stinky and dirty. A man who lived life telling us to be kind to one another and to simply treat each other as we want to be treated. A man who told us to love God with our entire being and to keep the Commandments. A man who was declared a criminal and executed in a manner to erase Him from history. Every effort to destroy His legacy was unsuccessful, so what more do we need to prove His divinity?

Legacy has many meanings, but the only one that matters is the one where those we touch in life will smile when they remember us. God does not ask us to change the world, but He does ask us to follow His Son and to do good to each other.

May this new year fill you with the hope of the life to come in the house with many dwelling places.

God Bless   

Andrej N. Lah