{"id":81080,"date":"2024-07-03T17:38:26","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T23:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/?p=81080"},"modified":"2024-07-03T17:38:26","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T23:38:26","slug":"the-hope-heart-and-habits-of-your-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/the-hope-heart-and-habits-of-your-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hope, Heart, and Habits of Your Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>The Hope, Heart, and Habits of Your Legacy<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/mesoamericaregion.us4.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=03e55b045b4b2d81fc3a5a85b&amp;id=2c60c22ca5&amp;e=1e0613ef18\">Dan Reiland<\/a><\/h3>\n<p><strong>The Hope of Legacy:<\/strong><br \/>\nDo you think about the legacy others left for you?<\/p>\n<p>What do you imagine your legacy will be?<\/p>\n<p>Legacy is about making a positive impact that results in the enduring good of others.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>There is great hope in the potential of legacy<\/em>. It can change lives for generations and for eternity.<\/li>\n<li><em>Every leader leaves a legacy<\/em>. We all leave our mark on the world; it\u2019s up to us what that is.<\/li>\n<li><em>Each of us is writing that legacy daily<\/em>. But, you can\u2019t write the story of your life and legacy in a day, it takes a lifetime, and intentionality always creates a better story.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Your legacy is not something to stress over; the truth is that some days will be better than others. However, always remember that leaving a legacy is a privilege, perhaps even a responsibility, and we are wise to approach it intentionally and find joy in the process.<\/p>\n<p>The interesting thing about leaving a legacy of positive impact and enduring good for others is that it\u2019s often thought about most by those who are young and those who are old.<\/p>\n<p>Those who are young need direction for their dreams, and those who are getting older must remember it\u2019s never too late. The middle years, the critical ones, are often lived in such a whirlwind of busyness that a legacy can become more of a surprise than one of intentional effort.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s true that none of us can know all of life\u2019s surprises, setbacks, or successes coming our way, but the more intentional we are, the greater the probability of a legacy you desire.<\/p>\n<p>Friends and colleagues have shared with me that they don\u2019t think of their life in such a grand way as having a legacy. For them, a simple, quiet, and good life is enough. Merely loving their family, pastoring their church, and being kind to others is their intent.<\/p>\n<p>That\u00a0<em>is<\/em>\u00a0a legacy and a good one.<\/p>\n<p><em>Legacy isn\u2019t about fame; it\u2019s about hope.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Legacy isn\u2019t so much about size; as in grand or modest, it\u2019s about heart and how you touched those God allowed you to love and serve throughout the story of your life and ministry.<\/p>\n<p><em>However<\/em>, when God invites you into the privilege of leadership, He may have a larger purpose than you imagined. And as it relates to eternal impact (legacy), you and God partner in that journey, which is a game changer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Heart of Legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Your calling<\/strong><br \/>\nKnowing who you are in Christ (your identity) and your calling (your purpose) sets the foundation of your legacy. Settling your identity and calling with a level of conviction will bring tremendous direction to your legacy.<\/p>\n<p>Before that, the years of your life spent growing and maturing are equally meaningful because those years of personal discovery help create your empathy for others and passion for making a difference.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your gifts and passion<\/strong><br \/>\nYour God-given gifts and personal passion help generate focus and energy toward what will eventually be your legacy. Your gifts and passion make investing in legacy a joy. Living your life toward a legacy isn\u2019t a chore to fret over, worrying about mistakes and missteps. Life isn\u2019t perfect; in fact, it\u2019s messy. But it\u2019s amazing what God can do with that!<\/p>\n<p>Leaving a legacy should always be about what you love to do because it\u2019s who you are. It\u2019s not a to-do list; it\u2019s something embedded deep in your heart that results in a life that deeply blesses others.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your values<\/strong><br \/>\nYour personal values in life, that short list of what you deem most important, determine your legacy\u2019s tone, character, and meaning.<\/p>\n<p>Your core values are like the banks of a river that guide your decisions and how you treat, serve and interact with people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Habits of Legacy<\/strong><br \/>\nLife is highly nuanced, and many factors shape and influence your legacy, such as your childhood, your personality, and, as already mentioned, your gifts and passions.<\/p>\n<p><em>But over the course of your lifetime, there are\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>three core habits<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>that you can decide to practice<\/em><\/strong><em>, and they will make a significant difference in your legacy. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>The prayers you pray.<\/strong><br \/>\nNothing strengthens the partnership between you and God or enhances the power of that partnership like prayer. The quiet, intimate moments you spend with God over the decades of your life have far more to do with your legacy than you may imagine.<\/p>\n<p>Think about the passion of your prayers for your kids, the urgency of your prayers for your church, or the compassion of your prayers for the sick and hurting. Those prayers change you, impact others and engage the heart of God!<\/p>\n<p>Your prayers engage the supernatural element that transforms a good life of adding value to others into a life that has eternal impact.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The people you love.<\/strong><br \/>\nGod\u2019s legacy in our lives, and through our lives, was set in motion through His son Jesus because He loved us so much. God\u2019s love is our model.<\/p>\n<p>The people you love and care about, the people you give generously of yourself to shape the core of your legacy. Generosity might mean two minutes with a stranger or mentoring a leader for twenty years. Generosity of spirit is about being fully present, sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and intentional about adding value.<\/p>\n<p>Generosity has a great impact on your legacy.<\/p>\n<p>On a more personal note from me to you, take care of yourself, so you can love others more deeply, generously, and from the heart. You can only give what you have, and from a place of healthy margin.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The leaders you develop.<\/strong><br \/>\nThe leaders you develop are the great multiplier of your legacy.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s go back to the idea of grand or modest. It\u2019s not so much about how many leaders you develop; it is about following God\u2019s plan for your purpose and developing as many leaders as is a natural outflow of your ministry.<\/p>\n<p>The important thing is that you are developing leaders. Developing leaders strengthens your church, increases the scope and reach of your vision, and adds great personal value to their lives.<\/p>\n<p>More and better leaders increase the scope of your legacy and help them live out their own legacy to a greater level as well!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The prayers you pray.<\/li>\n<li>The people you love.<\/li>\n<li>The leaders you develop.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How will you live your life so as to leave the world a little better than you found it and impact lives for generations to come?<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2023 Dan Reiland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Hope, Heart, and Habits of Your Legacy By Dan Reiland The Hope of Legacy: Do you think about the legacy others left for you? What do you imagine your legacy will be? Legacy is about making a positive impact that results in the enduring good of others. There is great hope in the potential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/the-hope-heart-and-habits-of-your-legacy\/\"> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":81077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3380,4661,276,266],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-leadership-articles","category-resources-ndi","category-sunday-school-and-discipleship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mesonaz.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}