I turned 48 this week. That means I have likely lived around half of my life, perhaps even a bit more. Because I am also changing careers in a few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the legacy I will leave behind. The Bible talks about the brevity of life, comparing it to short-lived wildflowers and vapor. Yet there are also references to what you do lasting for generations to come. What does our short time on this earth mean? How will things be different when you are no longer here?
Author Drew Dyck addresses something in his book Just Show Up that has stuck with me. He talks about his early days with his wife and their discussions that they wouldn't lead ordinary lives. They would "change the world." He goes on to describe why that thought is not necessarily Biblical. Most individuals to do not have the time or resources to "change the world" and are, therefore, not called to do so. He suggests that living ordinary acts of faithfulness is what we are called to do and that if we all did that, it would, in fact, change the world. We just wouldn't feel pressured to do it all by ourselves.
I'm the same age as Whitney Houston, Harvey Milk, Scott Joplin, and Curly (of The Three Stooges) were when they died. I have lived the same number of years as James Clerk Maxwell (deep cut for the nerds). These people obviously have wildly different legacies, but what they have in common is that God gave them gifts (musical ability, intellect, comic ability, charisma) and expected them to use those gifts to serve Him and love their neighbors. Not everyone has used their gifts for good - I'm also the same age Joseph McCarthy was when he died - but they all had that ability and responsibility.
Accomplishing something with your life does not have to come from living a long time. I'm twice the age reached by James Dean and Biggie Smalls. I'm 10 years older than JFK Jr, Flo Jo, and George Gershwin were when they died. I've achieved eight years more than John Lennon, Edgar Allan Poe, and Lenny Bruce, and I've lived six years longer than Elvis Presley and Gilda Radner. Think what we would have lost if they had waited until they reached middle age to start using their gifts.
The woman pictured here is Alice Ball. She was a chemist and is most notable for having been the first woman and the first African-American to earn a Master's degree from the University of Hawaii. She developed an oil extract that served as the most effective known treatment of leprosy until the 1940's. She accomplished all of this early because she was 24 years old when she accidentally inhaled chlorine gas while teaching a class and died instantly. It's a good thing she did not think she should wait until she was older to use her gifts.
On my birthday this week, I received a number of lovely notes from students. Most of them were about the way I teach, which I appreciate a lot as I have worked hard to develop that. The most touching one, though, was an email from a girl I haven't taught since three years ago. I will protect her privacy by not telling you the details of what she said, but it began with "You have quite literally changed my life." What she then proceeded to tell me were about conversations I don't remember but evidently led to her dealing with anxiety and medical issues I didn't even know she had. I'm always awed and humbled by the influence teachers wield that we may not even recognize, and how simple everyday actions and conversations that aren't memorable to one person may be powerful for another. Teachers aren't the only ones who have that, but we have more opportunities than others to exercise it.
I know I have rambled a bit, so let me return to my main point. Accomplishing something with your life isn't about waiting to do something big. God's will is not out there somewhere, waiting for you to find it. It's about taking whatever gifts you have been given and properly viewing them as opportunities to serve God and love others as outlined in I Peter 4:10, which says "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms."
Do that each and every day for however many days God gives you, and the world will be better for having had you in it. Your legacy will be the influence you have had on someone and the resulting influence they have one someone else, and so on.
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