What do I leave for another generation? 

Especially after COVID, we’ve all seen people younger than us die for various reasons. I’m not getting old, but I am beginning to think of what I’ll leave for the next generation. 

There’s not much wealth to be transferred, so there has to be other things. Also, there’s not much status and pomp to leave behind for the next generation either, so they could look back at their posterior and say great things about their lineage. 

So, what’s there to pass on? Here are a few things that come to mind:

(1) A legacy of Faith

(2) A legacy of Giving

(3) a legacy  of Integrity

Faith becomes a legacy as we live with full trust in God above all else. This should be more than a statement. It needs to be lived out in our everyday life. Our children should be able to look back at our life and attest  to that. Otherwise, those are mere words. 

Giving begins with giving of ourselves. When we give of our time, efforts, and talents for God and to others, we make an impact that is long lasting. Part of this should be the practice of financial giving as well. Don’t wait till you are financially well off or wealthy – that would be impractical. 

Integrity can be a bit tricky. It shouldn’t be. But it is. The concept of right and wrong gets blurred in various contexts. I remember when a motorcycle ran into  the driver side door of the car my brother was driving. The pictures taken show clearly that the motorcycle came out of a side road and broadsided him. Later, I was signing some papers at the police station, and I was struggling to read since it was the Malayalam language. I realized that I was signing papers that were like a “bond” to get him out. When I protested and questioned them, they said, “Oh, they are a poor family and it is so they can get the insurance money.” But I said, this is not what happened, but they kept repeating their previous statement. 

Whatever the surrounding community may consider to be appropriate should always come under the scrutiny of the Word of God. Thus we are to keep our integrity regardless of the people around us. Sometimes, keeping your integrity will cause you to incur loss, be passed up for promotions, and you won’t always come out on the top. Yet that is a gift you can pass on to generations to come.

 
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