Legacy

I love to go to yard sales and find treasures. This is also known as “yard saling” among those of us who do it, but I’m fairly certain the term isn’t found in Webster’s.

One recent Friday I set out with my two-year-old daughter in search of some yard sales. On this particular day we found an estate sale very close to our home. I wasn’t too sure it would be the place to find small toys like I wanted but, since it was the only one we’d seen, decided to give it a shot.

The sale had only been open 10 minutes and inside there was a huge amount of second- (or third, or fourth) hand merchandise. My little girl quickly spotted a toy kitchen with some miniature play foods on top. We filled up a miniature potato sack full of items and continued to mosey. As we browsed I was surprised at the number of toys, many of them antique figurines or high-end stuffed animals. I wondered if these were played with mainly by someone’s child or grandchild. Classic tales like Babar and The Jungle Book were being sold in their antique covers. The memories in this room hung mysteriously in the air--stories just waiting to be told over a cup of tea.

Finally in the back I spotted a wall full of baby and toddler clothing. Smocked styles that are still costly today hung on hooks and layed folded underneath. At first I wished I knew the sex of my future niece or nephew still only 12 weeks along. Perhaps I could score some deals! But then I was touched with a sadness over these pieces. These were clothes someone treasured enough to keep them safely tucked away for, judging by appearances, what could have been decades. Now they were being sold at an estate sale for a small profit to someone the original owner or wearer most likely will never meet.

Maybe this touched me because the gown I wore home from the hospital hangs today in my little girl’s bedroom. Or because the onesie my husband wore home from a hospital in Ft. Worth was also worn home by my little boy in Franklin, Tenn. But what I really considered at that moment was the ultimate emptiness in it all. It left me wondering about the legacy of the woman who kept them. Here were the clothes that were meaningful to her and for a very understandable reason. Whoever her children were, they didn’t want to keep these things...or maybe they weren’t around to take them. There were very few items in the entire sale that might have belonged to a man. Was she lonely?

I don’t know what lasting legacy this woman left for the children who wore those baby clothes. But she did leave one. It could have been good or bad. Who knows?

I do know, however, what I want my legacy to be. Do I want my children to rise up and call me blessed (Pro. 31:28)? Of course! But more than that, I want my legacy to be the gospel.

Life is full of so many ups and downs, so many mistakes and even some regrets. My family knows better than anyone how imperfect I am. That is why I want them to know better than anyone how great the Father’s love is for their mom, how even though I mess up day after day He removes my sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). And it is because Jesus was perfect and because of Him I don’t have to be. I’m free (Rom. 8:1). They can be, too! With all my heart that is what I want them to know most right now.

Day to day I am tempted to create a different legacy. My false idols (a clean house, a skinny body) lure me into a place of darkness that makes them seem important above all else. I must ask myself this: when I am gone and my possessions are being sold to the highest bidder, what will my legacy be? Will I be remembered for how fit I stayed?

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31:30  

Will I be remembered because I kept my home spotless? What a joke!

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 1:14

God is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last (Rev. 22:15). From Him we may gain eternal life. My job as a Christian mom is to make that my legacy and to help make it the legacy of my children. Storing memories in boxes of delicate childrens clothing isn’t necessarily bad, but that shouldn’t be our true treasure -- or our legacy.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matt. 6:19-21

I’m actually eager for my kids to be in realization of their sins. The sooner they know this the sooner they can see their need for a Savior. My greatest hope is that we will dance together before the Lord in celebration of His goodness. What a legacy that will be.