How Will You Enter Eternity?

By Gary Ryan Blair in Rants and Raves

WE ALL BEGIN LIFE AT GO, and all roads lead to a final rendezvous; the difference is what we do en route. Paths chosen, actions taken, and a host of decisions made lead ultimately to a unique legacy.

It’s non-negotiable: You will leave a legacy.

The question is not whether you’ll leave a legacy, but what legacy you will leave.

Your legacy comprises both ends and means. Is winning really winning when you are ashamed of how victory came?

The means by which you move through your life provide the working platform that supports your goals.

Style, courtesy, honesty, integrity and respect—these are the qualities that make for an inspiring legacy.

The way you live your life has an effect on how you are remembered. How on earth can the ends of your efforts be respected if the means make you want to blush in embarrassment?

Your legacy is not age sensitive. Although we relate the two as one, the truth is far from that perception.

Don’t defer your legacy. It is never too early or late to consider how you want to be remembered. You should have an intimate obsession with your legacy as it’s the only one you’ve got.

As you age, the clock and calendar reminds you that your time here is finite which forces you to make a move. We all have limited time to build something of substance, something that will transcend our own existence.

Time does not permit dallying with options. Your goals must be clear, responsibilities fulfilled, intentions and actions honorable. You must decide: If not this way, there is no other way. Otherwise, kiss the legacy you envision goodbye.

More important than leaving an inheritance is leaving a legacy. The ultimate test of the impact of an individual or group of individuals is twofold: whether the world they left is qualitatively different from that which they inherited, and what contribution they made to that change.

Be worthwhile, do something virtuous with the time you have.

You can dodge the questions for quite some time.

   Why am I here?
   What do I want to do with my life?
   How can I contribute?
   What will I leave behind?

But, eventually, we all reach our own philosophical puberty and realize that these questions call for‑in fact, demand‑answers.

We all have to give our lives meaning. We must find or create reasons for living.

To arrive at the point that you think seriously about your legacy, you must first reach a level of reality and commitment that represents an eternity to follow.

Consider your legacy to be something that is visceral and immediate rather than distant and speculative.

If we are going to leave a godly legacy, we must pass on to succeeding generations both faith and love. Do you have a faith that is worth handing down? If you hand down your faith the way you are living it now, will your children be the better for having received and accepted your lifestyle?

Retire into yourself and think. Go day-by-day seeing the world as your classroom and paying very strict attention. The wonderful part of considering your legacy is the clarity it brings to daily decisions.

Each decision moves you closer to or further from your legacy. Your legacy offers advice on how to live in the present in order to be remembered well when you are gone.

We only live once, but once is enough if we do it right. Live your life with class, dignity, and style so that an exclamation, rather than a question mark, signifies it!