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My wife, Michele and I were talking some years back about just how long we have known each other (since she was 9 and I was 7), and how I was one of the only boys in her hometown that she could have married that had any interactions with her mother, Linda.  Coincidence?  Phooey!

By the time I had any knowledge of Linda, she was lying on her death bed, dying of cancer.  My Dad was a new Pastor in town, and Michele's family was one of the first to join the church he pastored in Richmond, KY.  They had moved from the West Coast, and we had moved from Western North Carolina.  I remember a few visits made to the Lucas household.  Linda was always very obviously sick during our visits, and feeble, but I do distinctly remember her always finding a little strength to at least give me a greeting and a nice word or two.  My memory of her is foggy.  That was so long ago (32 + years).  But as a boy I have enough recollection to know that whatever was happening to Linda, she was not bitter.

Sick?  Yes.  Frail?  Yes.  Dying at the age of 39?  Yes.  But bitter?  No.

That in itself was quite a legacy to leave her then 10 year old daughter, who would become my wife some 14 years later.

Several years into our marriage, Michele's step-mom told us there were some boxes in the attic that had some of her parents' stuff in it (by then her Dad had also died of cancer).  We took down the box and discovered numerous Bible studies and Christian books that Linda had done.  They were all marked up with notes and thoughts.  There were studies through several books of the Bible, and Corrie Ten Boom books and notebooks of scribbles from sermons and lessons she had heard.  It was a pleasant surprise.  Michele knew that her mom had been saved late in life (especially considering the 39 short years God ordained for her on this earth).  And she had an inkling of the spiritual hunger in her mom, but this box of dusty books brought it to life.  Her mom in the few short years of her walk with Christ had obviously devoured everything she could get her hands on concerning her Messiah Jesus and His precious written Word.

I am not sure how Linda would have characterized her years prior to being saved by grace through faith in Jesus.  Maybe she would have seen them as mostly wasted?  After all, every second lived without the Lordship of King Jesus is a waste.  But, I know one thing for certain - her years of life with Christ were anything but wasted!  

Though Linda was not given much opportunity to impact her youngest daughter - my wife, Michele - in a "flesh-on-flesh" kind of way, her impact is definitely still lingering in my household.   Her hunger for the Word made flesh and the Word written down has blossomed in her daughter, and is now budding in her granddaughters (my precious Meaghan and Keileigh).

I thank God for the mother-in-law that I really never knew very well.  I yearn to visit with her one day at the feet of the Savior Jesus we both love.  

Legacy.

It isn't always passed on in the ways we think or dream or prefer.  But God is faithful.  His ways are infinitely higher than ours and past finding out!

Legacy.

What does it mean to you?  You are leaving one.  The only question is, "What kind are you leaving?" 

by Keith McWhorter