May 25. Leaving An Unlimited Legacy.

As leaders, regardless of what we lead, we will leave something behind when we are done leading. Are you leaving the what, the how or the why? The most important aspect of one’s legacy is the "why". Our “why” exposes our influence on faith, family, finances, fitness and of your product or services professionally.

If your legacy is restricted to your "what" it may be all about your product. As the marketplace modifies your product or service, the history of its' development will become just that, something of the past. If your legacy is restricted to "how" you did it, then you can expect its impact to again be lost as others are able to modify the "how" for a better value proposition.

My mind reflects today on people that knew their why. They influence me the most. Who in your organization today has impacted you the most? Who has influenced your organization the most besides yourself? Today is a great day to think about how to honor and remember them.

Those people influenced us, but they did so with a limit. It is up to us to define and make a bigger impact so that the limit of our influencers does not limit our legacy. What is the first thing you can do in the next seven days to do just that?

King David reflected upon his blessings. The book of 2 Samuel in the Bible shares this with us. He had physical blessings as well as spiritual blessings in his life. He thought to himself that he should use his physical blessings to honor God by building a temple for the Ark of the Lord.

But God did not want him to do that. He told him no, that anything that was to be done would be done by a son, not David. David's legacy was going to be about his spiritual blessings. What is your legacy going to be about? It might be centered on the physical blessings, the spiritual or it could be both.

Our legal systems will require our physical assets to be dealt with, but they will not require you to do anything about your spiritual blessings. I have many people who have acknowledged the limits of their physical presence on earth and therefore have sought out legal advice to make an estate plan.

But do we have a limit in place that has kept us from defining the limit of our spiritual journey? As a follower of Jesus, we might be wise to recognize that an earthly estate plan deals with the things of this world. But a spiritual legacy plan deals with our faith and the influence it will have on others.

What can you do in the next seven days to start your process of leaving a spiritual legacy?

Let us pray, Heavenly Father, the people and things of this world are temporary. But you have offered us eternity through your son, Jesus Christ. Help us to shape a spiritual legacy for those that we lead. May we follow your guidance, like you guided King David.

May our worldly transfers be reflective of what our spiritual legacy emphasizes. If we have only one legacy, then let it be representative of a life lived with you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,