Legacy

legacy is about leaving our mark in this world we call home.
legacy is about connection.
it’s about living and being vulnerable and authentically YOU.

this idea of legacy has been hovering the edges of my mind.

i have always loved reading memoirs.

i love movies about real people.

i sit and walk and listen to the stories of many in my corner of the world.
today a lovely woman from Israel shared a bit of her family’s journey with me.
another spent her life on a journey that led to owning her own farm to table restaurant in Carmel.

as I delve into the stories of others, i see threads weaving legacy into each unique life.

story after unique story slowly builds into a legacy. 

life after beautiful and challenge-filled life grows in purpose as time has woven its groove into our souls.

it takes the passage of time for us to see the groove.

we do not see it at first.

we see the present.

we see only the beauty and the challenge of the present.

at times we wonder why are we here?

what is the meaning of it all?

we desperately want to be remembered when our days here are done.

we want our footprints here to have made the world a bit more beautiful.

this desire for legacy is human.

we want to leave our mark.
we want to be known.
it is normal.

we are designed to have this desire within our very core.

we are made to be unique in our world.
we each matter.

as teens, we begin our hunt for legacy.

we think we are to find it in our youth.
we are surprised that it evades.

young adults are frustrated in the inability to grasp it.
it feels like sand slipping through our fingers.

at middle-age we are shrouded by an awareness of life not having gone as we thought.

we find ourselves in a place different that we had imagined.

so, legacy.

what will we leave behind this place?

the unrelenting voice of legacy comes from the distance and we can’t quite distinguish its words with clarity.

like a soft whisper it rests at the edges of our soul.

like a lion it roars powerfully and will not let us go.
it quietly haunts us.

we look forward at our wide-open mysterious futures and wonder where we are to go in order to leave a legacy behind.

to make a difference.

to be remembered.

we want to figure it all out.

we think it is completely on our shoulders and it is up to us to figure it out….NOW.

the weight remains heavy on us.
the desire sometimes even consumes us.

so, here we are.

not quite at legacy.

we are in the struggle part of our story.

we wrestle.

we stumble.

we have fun, too.
we make memories.
we make mistakes. we grow.
our paths cross the paths of others on their legacy-making journey.
we are writing our story.

the season of legacy WILL come.

someday we will turn around and see the thread that wound itself beautifully and intricately through our lives.

we will more fully see our unique purpose.

and for now…..

tuck that passion for legacy gently in your heart.

keep it there.
hold on to it.
guard it like a precious treasure.

let it always be quietly with you.

legacy is kind and patient.

legacy is not holding you to be something you are not.

it demands nothing of you.

simply be true to yourself.

be brave.
be bravely YOU!

write your one wild and precious story.

i am writing mine.

one chapter at a time.

sometimes just one little word at a time.

write your story.

every day.

one step at a time.

live.

search.
wrestle.
grieve.

adventure.

love.

work hard at your ‘thing’.
try other ‘things’.

choose challenging and beautiful parts to your path every day.

choose things that are YOU!

and savor the preciousness of now.

this is the time to learn who you are and who you are not!

what you like and what you don’t like.

the journey reveals itself along the way.

the journey reveals YOU.

the journey leads to legacy.

i promise.

write your story, beautiful friend.

i am convinced it is a really great one!
your life matters.
you matter.

~Tina