Make a Difference...

In the song Three Wooden Crosses, Randy Travis sings the words, "It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you, it's what you leave behind you when you go."   I fell in love with the words and message in this song the first time I heard it.  It reminds me of the family and friends I have known and loved who are no longer here with me, but are in Heaven with our Lord Jesus.  I can think of them today with a smile because of the wonderful memories I have of them and the incredible legacies they left behind.  The Christmas classic about Ebineezer Scrooge has been done and re-done so many times that I have heard people say "How many ways can you re-do the same movie?" Perhaps they are right, I don't know, however I do know the message in each version is always the same - our lives, the people we touch and the things we have done, whether big or small, matter much more than we may think.  When all is said and done it really doesn't matter how many times the story is done or re-done, what matters is the message it holds - we need to hear the message and believe in it.  

Emily Matthews wrote a poem that says - 

Some people make a difference

Just by being who they are,

Their inner light shines bright

and touches lives

both near and far,

And even when they're gone,

they still forever play a part

in the smiles,

the priceless moments,

that are treasured in the heart.

When others talk about a person's legacy, I don't think of the great deeds they may have done or not done, I think of how they touched the lives of people as they walked through their life.  Bringing joy to others, helping whenever they saw a need, reaching out to care for a sick friend, sitting and listening when someone just needs to talk, passing on their wisdom and life experiences, teaching others by their example of doing what is right because it is the right thing to do and the right way to live are what I think of when I think of a person's legacy.  

As I look around me at my circle of family and dear friends, the people I know, those I have known who came into my life for just a period of time and those I still have to meet, I think of how they and I touch each others lives.  Even a smile or helping hand to a stranger, a person we may never see again, matters and is a part of our legacy.  Think of the hundreds of people who have passed through your life - friends you grew up with, school mates from 1st grade and up, school teachers, friends and acquaintances who played an important role in your life at the time you knew them, but moved on as you continued through life, an older lady you may have helped to her car, someone you may have lifted the spirits of at that moment just by your smile as you passed them in a crowd - all of these and many, many more are part of our legacy.  I try to remind myself of this each and every day and say a silent prayer to God that I may touch someone's life each day in a positive way.  Sometimes that may mean doing something we really don't feel like doing at the time, including letting our inner light shine for others when we are hurting or not at our best.  I grew up reading the stories in the Bible, reading of the incredible people who faced some of the worst possible adversities with grace and were able to bring comfort or joy to those they met.  Those people lived hundreds of years ago, but in today's world we still find ourselves faced with adversities that are many times the worst moments in our lives.  Facing those adversities with grace and with God, helps us through just as it did for those in the Bible.  Someone once told me to live each day thinking of myself as God's light and to live each day by shining my light so brightly that any negatives I might be faced with will be pushed aside.  I love this.  So as we each begin each new day, I pray that we, both you and I, can shine our God-given light brightly, touch others lives in a positive way and make a difference.