Legacy.
It’s an interesting word and concept and today of all days I am grateful for it.
I am by gifting, desire, heart yearning, talent and predisposition a teacher. I enjoy related terms for it that have been job titles for me – trainer, tutor, development support officer, life coach, etc. I love the flexibility of different terms, but it finds its source in being a teacher. And that finds its origins in the love of learning. And that find its genesis in the love of words.
In any case, I am a teacher. It has taken me years to embrace this fact. I have acknowledged it before. I have used it before, but all with a sense of reluctance or never truly grasping that this wasn’t just something I did, it’s something I am gifted profoundly to impact my world for good and for God.
There have been a number of influences on the recognition and appreciation of this fact. Namely teachers themselves. Not just formal ‘school’ teachers, but others in different spheres who have influenced me greatly in the desire to learn and then formulate ways for others to learn that which I have learnt. Then there’s the current thing where I want them to then be empowered and enabled to take that which they have learnt and be effective in conveying that to others – almost like helping those to recognise that there is a teacher in them that they can apply in their own way.
So there have been influences over the years for which I am hugely grateful.
That links to the point about legacy. I was told the news today about the passing away of Dr Myles Munroe. I appreciate he might not be to everyone’s taste, but neither should he be. No one should be. Thankfully he was certainly to my taste. The news I know upset some people and it would have upset me … if it wasn’t for the training that I delivered earlier today.
I shared in that training how people with a positive outlook don’t see problems, they see opportunities. So the worse thing you can do if you want to be miserable is knock around with a positive person. They can turn literally any situation and make it look like this is the worthwhile adventure of a lifetime. Even when it comes to something as sombre and sad as death, they can turn that around and consider what the deceased left behind in terms of memories. By the time they’ve finished talking about celebrating life and revering the memory by enjoying life you end up laughing and smiling at that which minutes before you were upset about.
It was apt, then, that I shared that before hearing the news. I appreciated that people were upset, but I couldn’t be upset. It’s not as if he left us nothing behind. On the contrary, whether through books, videos, personal testimonies or whatsoever, that man has left a wealth of godly wisdom behind for all those who follow the same Jesus He worshipped. That’s not worth getting sad about – that’s worth celebrating, utilising, applying and then pursuing the same Jesus this man pursued until his time was finished.
As if that wasn’t enough, I came across this video which also particularly got me happy to believe that in His infinite wisdom God saw it fit to say it was time for Myles to finish his race. Watching this and listening to the motivation to crack on with living out lives to the full and emptying ourselves of the treasures we’re called to share, so we can say with Paul and Jesus that we’re finished is a good thing.
What a great legacy. That is somethingfor which I am hugely grateful
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 