• Living the Kidmin Legacy

Posted by: kidhelper on Tuesday, March 18th, 2014

 

 

Usually, the term Legacy refers to an amount of money or property left to someone in a will upon death of another. However, it can be an inheritance, a gift, a body of work, where the benefactors are friends or members of your family. Anything that you are “known for” accomplishing in your lifetime (even intellectual property) is possible to be bequeathed. These are legacy materials that could be passed on to others.

1. Living a Legacy: Create Your Own Legacy!

A Full life lived with abundant effort of skills, talents and a body of work takes a lifetime to accumulate. For some, determining what the focus of the Legacy will be is not rocket science. It might have to do with 10,000 hours of effort (see Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers). So the Legacy is usually about how one’s life has been lived. What’s dominant? I think you can choose what you want your legacy to be. In general, I have lived my life about reaching and teaching children. However, in particular, I have been about evangelism of children throughout all of my adult life—over 50 years now. Whatever your life has been about qualifies as your legacy of choice. This choice can help create your own legacy!

2. Lead a Legacy: Champion Your Own Legacy!

With all the years of experience, I began to see that I could leverage my years of experience into becoming a leader in my own field of legacy endeavor. Earning the right to lead based upon the accumulative years of experience qualifies one to take on some leadership. However, reading, writing and speaking about evangelism of children is what this movement of children’s evangelism is about.

So deciding to take leadership and establishing my own legacy could really be an option. I now see myself as a leader of my own legacy. This legacy of children’s evangelism is the bequest I will leave to those that follow me. It has been my writing that has helped me to understand that I am leveraging my life’s work for those that follow me. However, it has been my coaching experience that has added influence to establishing this legacy. I will probably be more known for my writing and coaching leaders than all my years of speaking to children. However, it was my experience that has qualified me to write and coach. Talking about it! Writing about it! Encouraging others who also share our Legacy. All this combines to focus leadership on our legacy. We should not be timid about becoming a Champion for our Own Legacy. It seems me that my legacy is encompassed in my life’s vision: Creatively evangelizing children and helping others to do the same.

3. Leaving a Legacy: Celebrate Your Legacy!

Obviously, if you are living your legacy and leading your own legacy, then leaving your legacy, involves the distribution of your accumulated treasure. This is the result of living your planned life. You cannot take very much with you, but you can leave something behind for your family, friends and protégé’s. I am giving thought to this idea since I have turned seventy. I am contemplating how I will distribute my accumulated experience, my worldly goods, and my collected ideas. It is now my ambition to “Put a Bow” on this Legacy Donation I wish to leave. If I do not, then others will have to decide for me in my absence. Why not participate in the process and celebrate the legacy?

I am Living My Dream!

Challenge:

You might think that you are too young to be thinking about choosing your legacy. But the truth is you have already begun, and you may not even know it yet. I was not aware of what my life was really going to be about for many years. However, as the years went by and my experience has grown, so has my awareness of what my legacy has become. Legacy is about your choices, your efforts, your being intentional.

So here is the Challenge—Identify the legacy early, so you can live it, lead it and leave it for others to enjoy. Leave something significant behind!

What is your life about? What do you want to be known for? Can you begin to enjoy your legacy now?

What can you do to take leadership of your legacy?

What form will you leave your legacy? Can you see yourself celebrating your kidmin legacy?

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