The Beginning of a “Living Legacy”
When you woke up this morning, and began your typical routine, did it cross your mind today, “I am a living legacy?” I doubt that anything so significant and grand crosses most woman’s minds so early in the morning. The majority of us hurriedly start our day with our minds making plans even before our eyes are fully open, even before we grab that first cup of coffee. We have many things on our plates and our legacy is the furthest thing from our minds. Even as we head out the door, in whatever unique role we are wearing for our day, do we really consider our life a “Living Legacy?”
Yet in reality, everything we do is making a comment. Our actions and our habits are making a statement, even if it is a very quiet statement. It is a declaration about who we are. It is telling those around us what is important to us. We are demonstrating to other’s what we value, sometimes with words, but most of the time without any words at all. And, they are listening and watching. When we least expect it, in public and private, we are being watched. We are a living story: we are a “living legacy.”
When I was a little girl I loved going to spend the night with my Papa Tom and Granny Ruth, one of the women mentioned in “Women of Beauty” a previous post. Each morning when I woke up, the house was generally quiet. My grandpa had already gone for the day when I would peek around the corner in the hallway, looking toward where I knew she would be in the living room.
Early on, I realized that as I entered that living room each morning, there was a reverent routine taking place and it was always the same. I never questioned it! But, I understood the hush in the room meant I should not speak. I never interrupted this routine. I simply and quietly watched with respect and awe.
My Granny would have gotten up earlier than the rest of us and was always dressed in stockings, slippers and a day dress. To this little girl she was beautiful, as I gently slipped around the corner and found a place on the sofa I had a clearer vision of her morning routine. I watched her read her Bible, drink her coffee and close her eyes to pray. She became my inspiration, and to some degree my stability. I was always safe and loved in this place. And as the years have passed I realize even more, how deeply she was a woman who loved her Lord. She was a true “living legacy.”
Granny Ruth is gone now, and oh how I miss that security; I miss that consistency. And I also miss the fact that she was the link to the past. My granddaughters will not be able to see the same images that I saw as a little girl. They will not get to see my Grandmother’s morning ritual. Yet, what they do have is the little girl in me that watched every moment of her Grandmother’s waking up and spending the morning with her Lord. And now, all these years later, that little girl is a grandmother of her own. And she in turn, had her own little girl, who also saw her mother spend the morning in prayer, with her Bible and her cup of coffee, and that is how a legacy began.
It was built upon a solid foundation, with Christ as the cornerstone, but it was lived out beginning each and every new day. One cup of coffee, one open Bible, one Grandmother and one prayer at a time. This is how a woman can create her own “living legacy.”
I wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for being a part of PORCH-TALK:Inspiration for a Woman’s Heart. There have been many firsts since the website has started and another one will be out soon. Our first newsletter (Sept/Oct Porch-Talk Newsletter) will be focusing on “Living Legacies.” And today was kicking off our theme. You were introduced to my inspiration of a “living legacy.” In the newsletter I hope to share more ideas with you. Specifically, we will be looking at FIVE THINGS THAT PRESERVE YOUR LEGACY. Please feel free to invite others to join us.
If you haven’t already signed up for the mailing list I hope you will take a moment to sign-up. There are a couple of places on the website where you can sign-up: at the bottom of each post where it says “Please sign me up for the Porch Talk newsletter” or “Subscribing for a Free Stay-Cation Gift” will also get things started for you to become active on the mailing list.
BLESSINGS TO YOU…Regina
I didn’t live close enough to witness my grandmother but I did with my mother and she had a similar routine. Now I begin my day with my Bible, my “Jesus Calling” book and prayer ~ no better way to start my day! And anyone around me knows it is “my time” and I am not to be disturbed. Thanks so much for sharing this and so much more!!
The older I get I realize how precious those early morning meetings are to my day. I also know, they are the reason I cherish the heritage from my Grandma. It may have been a small thing to many people but all she did was allow me to be a part of her world, which at the time was a gift in and of itself. But the biggest gift she gave me…was she introduced me to “her Lord.”
Thanks so much for sharing your story…that is what means so much to me! I love to hear other peoples stories, they are a blessing!