Mission & Purpose

When was the last time you thought about your mission in life?
Businesses have missions to help define their purpose.
Organizations in the social sector (non-profits, schools, etc.) also have them, or should.
Mission statements should answer who you serve, how you do it, and why.

For years I have had a mission statement for my classroom that was more geared to my way of approaching instruction and also a separate statement for how I live out my life mission. Recently I have re-worked them and combined the two into one big ‘ol, all-encompassing mission statement for my life.

When I really think about it, this over-arching mission IS what drives me in all that I do, whether it’s interacting with students, parents, or colleagues at school, interacting with the cashier at Kroger, or friends, or family, or anyone else who God places in my path.

Mission statements are supposed to be the lighthouses that keep guiding us back to our chosen paths. We should be checking what we do against our missions in order to stay focused. It should help us in deciding when to say “yes”, when to take on new commitments, and when to charter new ground. And each of our missions should also help us refine and define what we do, help us evaluate, and give us permission to say “no”.

I hesitated to share mine with you, but I decided to for a couple of reasons.
1. Maybe it will encourage you to write your own
2. Maybe you can help hold me accountable if you see me wavering in living mine out as I intend to be resolute in its pursuit

I was placed on earth for this main purpose: To encourage and support others
I was also placed on earth for this secondary reason: To carry out that main purpose - encourage and support others - in the secular marketplace
(What I mean by this is that sometimes those of us who are living for Christ decide to carry out our purpose in a Christian setting. I feel called to carry out my purpose in the melting pot of society and all that that means. Either setting, in my opinion, is equally necessary and important.)

Therefore, this is my life mission:
I will leave a legacy that is shaped by how I treat others and how I reflect the light of Christ in all that I do. I will love others well, be the "hands and feet" in every opportunity, and enhance the lives of all I encounter through inspiration, encouragement, and support. I will give of self and resources sacrificially, and serve with humility, compassion, and excellence so that I leave a positive and lasting mark on the world and one day I hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant!"

Do I always hit the mark, every day, every time? Of course not…I’m human. But living it every minute is the goal. Some days I fall short. Some days I don’t love well, some days I miss opportunities to be the hands and feet, some days I’m grouchy. Some days I am not serving with compassion and excellence – especially those I love most. Of course, some days I wonder if my boys’ mission statements include a line about breaking their mother’s spirit with their picking and fighting with each other and never putting their dishes in the dishwasher!!!

But if every day I wake up and living out this mission is what drives me, what I check everything against, what I filter my interactions and reactions through, then I think I have a pretty good chance of getting better every day, leaving a positive and impactful legacy, and hearing “Well done!”

I encourage you to wrestle with your mission and purpose if you haven’t.
How? The best way is to spend some quiet time alone with God and ask him to reveal it to you. There are also several great books that can help you discern what it is, but know that it is probably something very simple that you can do in multiple settings and job situations (as mine is encourage and support, which can be done through many avenues). It also likely has something to do with your natural gifting, passion, and hard-wiring, something that you're inclined to do already, but if you were really cognizant of it, focused on it, you could really use it to build the Kingdom.

How you live out that very simple theme will be determined by the passion that burns at your core. For instance, you could discover that your purpose is to help others. If your passion is medicine and science, you might live out that purpose by becoming a neurosurgeon. But if that is your purpose and you love the elderly, you might live that out by working or volunteering in a nursing home. The purpose here is simple and is a universal theme, how it is lived out is highly personal and tied to the person’s passion and gifting.

How do you craft a mission statement? Jot down some notes about what you want your life to be about – to stand for – what you will do, for whom you will do it (your family, your church, the world), and why you will do it. Ask God to help you define it if you’re having trouble. Don’t worry if it’s perfectly written or if it’s pretty. Don’t worry what anyone else would say about it. No one else even has to see it. It’s just for your benefit.

Keep it where you can see it. Read it every day. Let it guide you. Check what you do against it; filter your words and actions through it.

It’s your life. It’s your purpose. It’s your mission.

Live a life that has your mission written all over it, and your own powerful, unmistakable legacy will be born.

Question: What is your life mission? Why? Will you take the time and effort to put it on paper?

40 and ????

Well, I’m almost a week in. The big 4-0 came and went last Sunday and the world did not stop turning. It’s not like I’m depressed or stressed or on the verge of a mid-life crises (though I can’t be sure…).

These questions loom for me:
40 and fabulous…or frumpy?
40 and fearless…or frightened?
40 and have it all figured out…or full of it (!) ?

Maybe I’ll never know. And maybe I’m a little of each of those, depending on the moment, depending on the day.
I really hope that at age 40 I am not at the half-way point, but that is not for me to know, and I think this is the underlying reality check that causes people to stop in their tracks at these milestone birthdays and contemplate:
What did I do in the first 40 years that really matters, and what had I better get moving on starting today, right now?

In some ways I think I’ve done OK.
Yet in some ways I think I have not begun to scratch the surface of becoming who God intends for me to be.
And I wonder…is that my fault, did I stunt my own progress? Or did God not only plot my path, but also my days in which to land at each marker?

I realize the introspective nature of these questions, even the heaviness at times, but if we don’t ask, evaluate, and analyze how will we have any sense of the continuum on which we travel?

In the first 40 years I know that I have done some important things.
I also did some stupid stuff.
And I literally thank God that it’s not too late to have some great big plans for the next 40 years…to make sure that the answers ARE fabulous, fearless, and figured out, to teach some more kids to read, bring some people to Jesus, change some lives, give away thousands (let’s get crazy and say millions here, God!), raise faithful boys who live out their passions and dreams, grow old with my soul mate, embrace my friends, inspire others, shake the system & rock the boat, leave a legacy, …and change the world.

Age has no relevance for God.
Look at Abraham and Sarah and Noah.
(Side bar: Hey God, by the way, it is A-OK if we skip the childbearing at 90 business! I can NOT imagine the stretch marks from that! Whew!)
Amazing things were done to further the Kingdom of God, things that we still very much feel the ripple effect of today, by them and many more.

I just want to make sure that in the next 40 years (and beyond), everyone I come in contact with is better for having known me, and that I am the hands and feet of Jesus in my community, the face of Jesus in the crowd every single chance I get.

Gotta go! The clock is ticking, and I have to do nothing short of changing the world for the Kingdom of God!

Question: What will YOU do in the next 40 years to change the world for the Kingdom of God?

Shock & Awe

I love to shock people.

Not in the “I just went and had my body completely pierced and sleeved” kind of way…
More in the “you think you have me totally figured out and you so do not, mister” kind of way.

I’ve been told I am a little high maintenance. A little complicated. A tough nut to crack.
Fine by me.
How boring would life be if we were each a Myers-Briggs ESFP? I enjoy being a complex INTJ. It is, after all, who God made me to be…for a reason. And if you know anything about Myers-Briggs and those 16 personality types, you know that my personality isn’t one known for enjoying shock value.

I am absolutely too straight-laced. Therefore, people don’t think I’m funny, so I love to surprise with an off-the-cuff funny remark.

I am extremely opinionated. I keep those opinions to myself a lot of the time so as not to cause too much eyebrow raising, but sometimes I love to listen long and hard, saying nothing, as though I might not care…or know…only to interject my opinion at the perfect moment backed by cold, hard fact.

I love to be an original and despise being copied. Just when someone thinks they have me figured out, I love to do something completely to the contrary just to keep them guessing. (For this I probably do need counseling, referrals welcome…)

But here’s my favorite: I love to shock people with the truth of Jesus, with the love of Jesus, with the heart of Jesus, and when they least expect it.

I love to shock people by doing things that are so far outside the lines of the secular world in which we live that the non-believer, or even the believer, on the receiving end is so stunned they don’t know how to respond.

Just today I had to call a company about a problem and speak to the customer service rep. I was really concerned about a breech of confidential information and the woman took care of it quickly and put my mind at ease. As we hung up I said, “You have no idea how you have helped me today. I hope God blesses you in return for how you have blessed me.”
Ya cudda heard a pin drop….
“Um, wow…thank you so much, ma’am!” was her response. Clearly she doesn’t get much of that blessing stuff at her job.
Jesus meets customer service…

A few days ago I had to call a credit card company that was trying to send me a card & all I had to do was activate it, except that I didn’t want it. I realized that they had us listed as a pending application, which “Mr. Chad McCool Envelope System” did not want on his credit. Good little Discover Card worker that she was just really wanted me to go ahead and open that account in case I ever needed it…even though I was telling her I didn’t need or want it.
I had no choice but to pull out the shock and awe!
Oh, to have seen her reaction would have been priceless when I said, “Well, we are trying hard to live by the rules of Kingdom Finance and part of that for us is following the methods of Dave Ramsey. We’re working hard to pay off all of our credit card debt and cut up our cards (!), and any other debt, so we can even start to work on the overwhelming task of paying off our mortgage in short order. It’s really going to take a lot of hard work and discipline to do all of that and continue to give like we want to. I know that your job is to extend credit, but I just really feel God laying it on my heart to be strict in this.” She laughed at me. (Hey, it ain’t the first time…and it won’t be the last!) Then she told me that she’s watched Dave Ramsey on TV a couple of times. I thanked her for helping me make sure that card didn’t become active and told her that God would bless her for helping me stay on track. I could feel the shock and awe reverberating through the phone line!
Jesus meets 1-800-discover.


Recently I made a call to a utility company. I explained that I bypassed all of the automated choices because none applied. I had to talk to a real person. I explained that I was calling so that I could pay both the current bill and the overdue bill of a family whom I knew could not pay their own. At first the man on the other end could not even understand what I was trying to do. He kept asking me who I was with, what company I was from. I kept responding with varying versions of “I’m not with any company. I’m one of a really small group of people who likes to go around paying other people’s bills.”
When he still seemed to have a bad case of shock and awe, I finally said, “I’m with Jesus.”
He very slowly answered, “We don’t get a lot of that.”
Jesus meets the utility company guy.

I hope that day that I was the vehicle for God to move for that family. I also hope I was a witness to Jesus being alive and active in this world to the guy on the other end of the phone. Very powerful stuff if I was able to do both.

Now these are some of those stories that I’ve mentioned I hesitate to share, but my dear friend Julie has convinced me that sharing it is where the real leadership is.

But here’s what you absolutely must know:
This is not about me! This is about God. Focus on God. Shock and Awe for God, by God, because of God. And it has nothing to do with me other than the fact that I am daily trying to be His hands and feet out there in my very own community, directly impacting one life at a time.

Jesus will show up anywhere that you take Him.
Oh, I know He can get there on His own, but He’s waiting to see how we’ll pack him up and carry Him with us everywhere we go.
For years I’ve been praying the prayer of Jabez. My territory IS being enlarged. But the world is full of noise and distraction and sometimes it takes more than a whisper to get people’s attention.
Sometimes it takes full-scale warfare.

Sometimes it takes shock and awe to shake the system, to sufficiently rock the boat…
…but WOW, the stories…the power of God in it…the legacy…the eternal significance…

WOW!

Question: Where have you taken Jesus today? How have you shocked and awed in His name?

Our Reward Is Not On Earth

It’s almost freaky how over the last several months I’ve had this recurring conversation with people. Each exchange has been due to its own special set of circumstances, and each has involved different people, but the overall theme remains the same.

The over-riding question that has prevailed is this:
Why do things always work out for people who stink? Cheat? Lie? Steal (company time & resources)? Do the wrong thing? Take the shortcuts? Take advantage? Are lazy? Why…yet it always seems to work out so well for them…why?

Why? WHY??? And why then especially when there are those of us out there bustin’ our hineys every day, doing the right thing, working our fingers to the bone, telling the truth, playing by the rules, paying our taxes, helping others, trying to make a real difference, giving to church, going to church, living right and yet we can’t seem to catch a break?

WHY?

The flippant, easy answer is this: Life ain’t fair, sister! So suck it up and deal with it.

But I think we do ourselves, our friends and colleagues, and especially our children, a real disservice when we reduce it to that.

I think the answer lies much deeper than that…I’m willing to bet my every worldly possession that it is because our reward is not on earth. It’s not like I’ve known this or been as sure as I am today about this for my whole life. In fact, it has taken lots of reading of scripture and praying and thinking over the last 39.999999 years to fully grow into it, but I am really, really sure now.

There are plenty of instances in which to contemplate the concept:
(And I don’t mean for these examples to sound judgmental…I’m just sure we’ve all witnessed at least one of these where it wasn’t based on judgment, but on cold, hard fact that this is what was happening.)
Why does the person at work seem to get rewarded over and over even though she doesn’t play by the rules?
Why am I working so hard with such little gain, while I watch her get ahead by cheating and lying?
Why did I do the work, but she got the credit?
Why is she favored when she so blatantly lacks integrity by cheating the company?
…and of course there are the obvious ones…
Why did he die young when he was such a good person?
Why does one neighbor’s family struggle financially when they always do the right thing, but another neighbor’s family has everything they need and more, yet they are so nasty to others?
Why does she, of all people, have to suffer with cancer?

From being passed up for things I worked hard for in school all the way to a very specific instance with a co-worker a couple of weeks ago, this question has come up in my life over and over again. So maybe I write this now as much to remind myself as anyone else…

The only answer I’ve got is that our reward is not on earth. Our reward will be in Heaven. And while the here and now sometimes FEELS like an eternity, it is merely a blip on the screen. But what we do now, during that “blip”, determines where we get to live…with whom we get to live…for what really will be eternity.


I wish I had more…but these are my insights and totally my personal takes on it:
**The phrase “we reap what we sow” has eternal implications!
**Satan likes people who don’t live right, who don’t play by the “rules”, so he makes sure that he sets them up well to live the following lie: there are no negative consequences for your actions. (This helps lure more people to him.)
**God doesn’t actually promise that life will be sweet and rosy because we believe in Him. He promises that with a new life in Christ we will have eternal life and will never be without Him. He promises that eternal life with Him will be paradise and it is worth waiting for.
**God is hoping to see that we’ll hang in there, that we’ll stick with Him, that we’ll believe His promises, no matter what. He wants to see if we are easily dissuaded or if our words (claiming we follow Him) and our actions (actually following Him) match. He wants to see how easily we give up and throw in the towel.
**God is testing our integrity and our worldliness…testing us to see if we’ll “sell out” to instant gratification at some point.
**Adversity can, if we choose to let it, cause us to become better, stronger people. God also hopes we’ll use what we learn from our experiences to help others, especially our children who are looking to us to see why they should remain on the straight and narrow.
**God will reward us greatly in eternity when time after time he sees us choosing the right actions and the right attitudes when we know there is no earthly gain.
**He is keeping a record, a “report card” of sorts, and He will have a student-teacher conference with us about it someday. On that day all justice will be served for the many things we did right…and the many times we fell short of His glory.
**Every single thing…yes, every last little thing, no matter how small it may seem…that you do in His name is adding to YOUR cache of treasure in Heaven.
**God sees all of the works that you do, the true intent behind each one, and the depth of the core of your belief in Him and love for Him.

Luke 6:23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in
heaven.”
Matthew 16:27 “He will reward each according to his works.”
Matthew 19:21 “You will have treasure in heaven.”
Luke 14:14 “You will be blessed…for you shall be repaid at the resurrection.”

I can often be found saying the following two statements aloud to myself (apparently I need a lot of reminders):
1. The high road is a lonely road, but it is the one I choose to take.
2. My reward is not on earth.

That’s all I’ve got…no other answers…but I’m really sure that I’m right. And I’m really sure that it’ll be worth it.

If you only read one more book in your lifetime, read A Life God Rewards by Bruce Wilkinson. One of the most poignant things he says (and there are many) is this, “Our eternal destination is the consequence of what we believe on earth. Our eternal compensation is the consequence of how we behave on earth.”

Personally, I’d rather “suck it up and deal with it” even though “life ain’t fair”, trusting in God’s every move, choosing the lonely high road over and over again, believing in a wonderful loving Savior, so that I can secure my rightful place at the Feet of the Throne.

Of course when I get there, one of my very first questions to Jesus will be, “Remember X at work (can’t type the names or the situation here…)? What the heck was up with that? Cause, man, did I get the short end of the stick on that one!!”
I sincerely hope He’ll explain and follow up with, “Hey, girl…how you handled that…well done, my good and faithful servant! I knew your heart then and I remember it now, and it contributed to your storehouse of treasure.”

My prayer for all of us:
Dear God, help us stay on the straight and narrow even when it seems like the tougher path. Help us hold fast to Biblical truths, and help us find strength in Christian friends who will encourage us to keep running toward you even when that’s not the easiest or most convenient thing. Give us the stamina we need to cling to you instead of being wooed by the instant gratification of this world. Help us to be patient now so that we may spend a beautiful eternity with you in Heaven. And most importantly, give us the insight and the honesty to use our life experiences to teach our children to do the same. Amen.

Question: Do you believe your reward is in Heaven…I mean really believe?

That Way for a Reason

Below is one of my favorite quotes ever:

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight ~ but never stop fighting!" -e.e. cummings

I’ve always felt like I march to the beat of a different drummer…
…I’m a contrarian.
I like to do my own thing, I don’t like to be told what to do (though I’ve never ever been rebellious), I’m certainly my own person, I don’t like to follow the crowd, and I don’t like to be copied.
I’ve always been like that. Always.

Yet I feel that the world is constantly trying to mold me and craft me into what it wants me to be.

You know those hard middle school years…when you feel like a huge dork 100% of the time? I tried just a little bit to fit in then… But trying to fit in was like trying to put a square peg in a round hole, and I quickly realized that it couldn’t be done.

I had to learn to love the things that made me different, even if those things seem strange (or however they seem) to others.
And through learning to love those things about myself over all of these years, I think I’ve also learned to really appreciate the differences in others.

As a society we are quick to want to focus on how we are all alike, and that’s not a bad thing to focus on if that’s what it takes for us to get beyond the small stuff and get to know the heart of someone. But is that really the only way we can embrace each other as humans?

In fact, the world even wants everyone to be alike. Why is that? Why do we try to conform and to get others to as well? Why is peer pressure such a problem? Why do we seek other’s approval so much? Why do we try to impress? Why don’t we passionately, but respectfully argue more? Why don’t we challenge each other to think for ourselves a little more? And when someone blindly states something as truth, why don’t we kindly ask them to back it up with facts? Why don’t I kindly ask them to?

I don’t want to live in a world where we all look the same, act the same, talk the same, think the same.

As a society, why can’t we acknowledge that we are all different, yet “wonderfully made”?
Embrace the differences.
Celebrate the differences.
Enjoy the differences.
Find the good in the differences.
And talk openly and honestly about the differences.

I get the whole “finding the common ground” thing, I guess…
…OK, I guess I don’t get it!!!!
We are supposed to love others just because they are created in the image of God, not because they are like us.
While I’ll admit that is it more fun to be close friends with people who like to do the same things as I do and, those details shouldn’t matter when it comes to treating others well, showing respect, and appreciating them as people who are made by God.

Have you ever felt “not like yourself”? I absolutely adore singing in our church’s worship choir. It is an awesome, God-filled experience every time our voices join together. Oh, how I love it! We have to wear all black when we sing, and I couldn’t agree more with the reasoning behind it. It’s just that in doing so, I feel completely unlike me: colorful, LOTS of jewelry, a little on the eccentric side…yet there I have to blend in, which is something I’m not good at nor like to do.
And in choir I have to totally reign in the whole shoe thing. (Nothing is better than a great, sassy pair of shoes to make that black dress pop! But the plain black is required.)

Maybe you’re a sporty girl (which I have trouble even identifying with), and you live in tennis shoes and adidas pants. When you have to wear a dress and heels, if you even own any, you feel totally unlike yourself and can’t wait to change clothes!
Maybe you’re a little bit country (Marie) and someone else in your life is a little bit rock n’ roll (Donny) and they keep making you listen to their music…and it’s just not you.

You get the idea…

But I want to challenge you to start thinking about it in a new way:
Every cell in my body aches for me to be 100% of who I am…to be true to myself…regardless of how different that is from the next person.
And I believe that God made me like that for a reason.
He made you like you are for a reason, too.

I believe with my whole heart that each of us is put on this earth for a specific purpose. That particular purpose can only be lived out, that very legacy left, if we embrace what makes us uniquely us. We’re not supposed to be like anyone else. We’re supposed to reject conformity and cookie-cutter-ness!

If we try to be something we’re not, aren’t true to ourselves, or ignore what ignites our passion, we are defying God and the very reason he created us.

Song of Solomon 6:9: …my perfect one is unique…


It is our job and responsibility to embrace and develop who we are. To use our God-given talents. To work on ourselves so that we are continually improving. To speak about our obstacles. To go where our heart is truly leading us…for that feeling in our hearts that we can’t ignore is God speaking the calling upon our lives.

And I think it is our job and responsibility to realize that about other people, too.

This week a friend and I talked & emailed about her son, his ADD, and a less than helpful parent-teacher conference. It got me thinking about this very subject. All of us, with all of our hang-ups, all of our quirks, idiosyncrasies, baggage, and experiences are made the way we are for a reason.

It’s what we do with all of it that matters.

What I so badly want is for her son’s teacher to understand that while his ADD is a part of who he is, it is not WHO he is. He is wonderfully made, ADD and all, through a perfect formulation of skills and talents and passions and maybe even some quirks, so that one day he might fulfill the purpose for his life. The very one for which God created him. The one that no one else in the universe can fulfill but him. Her son is the way that he is for a reason. And he needs to be embraced at home, at school, and in society for that perfect combination, whether or not it includes ADD.

I want her son’s teacher to find every wonderful thing in that boy and let my friend know that while there may be some things to work through, she loves him for all of who he is. That is our job as teachers: to value every cell that knits that child together and then to take him as far emotionally, socially, and academically as he can go.

And as a parent, I know from experience what it feels like to have someone (even lots of people) make you feel like the only thing about your child is that “one thing”. What about my kid’s creativity, his problem solving ability, his insightfulness that is way beyond his years, his very dry and sarcastic humor, his leadership ability? Those are the things that really set him apart, that make him march to the beat of his own drummer. Those things matter so much more. And, my kid apparently needs that “one thing” to not only make him authentically who he is, but to live out the whole reason God created him in the first place. He’s that way for a reason.

Psalm 139:13-15 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Let’s help each other see our differences. Let’s appreciate them, acknowledge them, learn from them.
Let’s prosper and succeed, not in spite of them, but because of them.
Let’s realize that using the ways we are different is the only way we can glorify God in fulfilling His will for our lives.

After all, He’s made each of us unique for a reason and I love knowing that I’m the only me there is!

Question: What makes you YOU? What do you think God’s purpose was in creating you with the exact combination of characteristics that you have?

Legacy

I have often seen signs that say (or heard people verbally say): “Leave a legacy.”

But here’s the thing…You ARE leaving a legacy whether you mean to be or not.
...at least that's what I think...

From Merriam-Webster:

1leg·a·cy
Pronunciation:
\ˈle-gə-sē\
Function:
noun
Inflected Form(s):
plural leg·a·cies
Etymology:
Middle English legacie office of a legate, bequest, from Anglo-French or Medieval Latin; Anglo-French, office of a legate, from Medieval Latin legatia, from Latin legatus
Date:
15th century
1 : a gift by will especially of money or other personal property : bequest 2 : something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past

The term is used so often in referring to leaving something (object or philosophy) good to someone after you die. But I think you are establishing what your legacy will be over the course of your lifetime. It may be one your proud of, and it may be one you’ll regret.

Most people who know me think I am very out-going, but really I am very introverted, the type who likes to be a wallflower and just stand back and do a lot of observing. In my observing I have noticed particular families or groups of people that seem prone to things going wrong, drama, glitch after glitch in life, sickness, sadness, expecting the worst. Why is it that some people seem to have a long family history of “we will persevere”, while others follow the long-taught mantra, “life stinks”?

It has caused me to stop and think: What legacy am I leaving? 7 generations from now what will my descendants be like and what will be said that I passed down through those generations?

My Grandfather Clyde left a legacy of a strong work-ethic, unshakable faith, right priorities (God first, family next, everything else after that), using your talents, service to God and country. I will never forget those lessons he taught me and, because they have shaped who I am, they now live on in my children.

You ARE leaving a legacy…
What will it be?
You are creating that legacy at this very moment…

Is it a legacy of fear and doubt?
A legacy of poverty?
A legacy of depression?
A legacy of complacency?
A legacy of self-loathing?
Of settling for mediocrity?
Of negativity?
Of divisiveness?
Of drama?
Of blame?
Of victimization?

…OR…

Will you leave a legacy of positive thinking?
A legacy of taking action?
A legacy of knowing that God has created you for a specific purpose that only you can fulfill?
A legacy of gratitude?
A legacy of responsibility?
A legacy of self-worth, caring, concern?
A legacy of making a difference?
Of peace, pulling up your boot-straps, making the best of it?
Of inclusion?
Of continual improvement?
Of humor?
Of joy?
Of caring more than is practical?
Of brave, bold, courageous service for the Kingdom instead of playing it safe?

Will you teach your child that he’s not good enough and that dreams aren’t for people like him?

Or will you teach your child (and his children to come) that the dream in his heart was placed there by God and that NO dream is too big?
Will you teach him to honor God by achieving and living out that dream? Are YOU honoring God by achieving and living out the dreams that He has etched upon your heart?

Once the legacy is laid down, it will be woven into generation after generation. What will your legacy say about you 100 years from now?
If it isn’t what you want it to be, it isn’t too late to make the changes you need to make.

You are worthy of a legacy as big and as wonderful as God’s love is for you.

And your children deserve nothing less.

Question: You ARE leaving a legacy. What will it be? Will it honor God?