Friday's thoughts

"What We Want to Remember"

The two aspects of our lives serve as bookends to define us and to set off what we stand for and how we will be remembered after we are gone are best grasped by us as soon as possible.

In the book of Daniel we read how the King of Babylon built a monument to himself. It was a large statue and it called for people to pay homage to him. It was viewed as a mistake by many and he called for the people to bow down to him and worship him as a God. In the Book of Daniel that was indicated as the precipitating event that led to the dishonoring of the King of Babylon.

That is a good thing for us to remember. When we try to design our legacy it is often not appreciated or accepted; and sometimes it takes a turn we wish it wouldn't take. Instead of honoring us it mock us.

Two things we will want to remember:

1. The Prelude to our lives;
We approach everything with an attitude of gratitude. We are what we are because there were people who took the time to help us become the people we could become. No one of us is self-made. We are the products of the efforts and the kindness of many people. For all of that, once we know it, we have an attitude of gratitude.

2. The Postlude to our lives;
We leave the definition of our legacy to the people who come after us knowing that we may not be remembered for what we anticipate. Moses wanted to be remembered as a military leader. He had hoped to be the one to take the people on the Exodus journey into the Promised Land. Instead he was remembered as a preacher and a prophet. He was known to be the best prophet of Israel. It is written in the 34th Chapter of Deuteronomy "There has never been in Israel a prophet as great as Moses. He knew God face to face." When it comes to the way others remember us, we will want to have the attitude of latitude.

The Prelude -- The Attitude of Gratitude
The Postlude -- The Attitude of Latitude

This we will want to remember.

How do you want to be remembered by the people who will be recipients of your legacy?

If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net.
If you are willing to allow others to read your response click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles