What will your invisible legacy be?
Where have you given of yourself in a gracious,
yet hidden way?
When did you donate to an urgent cause,
yet spoke of it to no one?
How have you put in a good word that led to a hire,
a promotion, uplift of another person,
who themselves became a significant leader?
Who came to you for advice, and you listened
until they found the wisdom of their own heart?
What small (or large) sacrifice of position or power or influence did you make, so a greater cause might be born?
Where are entire ecologies flourishing today
from tiny mustard seeds you quietly planted long ago?
When has your left hand barely known what good
your right hand was doing?
How will you invest in a future that is presently just a vision without centering your own need to take credit?
Who do you believe in and how will you support them?
What will your invisible legacy be?
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Thinking about invisible legacies
In truth, I think about invisible legacies a lot. Like many Christians, I was raised with a deep value of humility, and adults advised me to resist boasting and bragging. And most of us imagined the lives we lived as being in a sort of private space. Only elected officials or movie stars or famous authors truly lived public lives. One effect of the explosion of social media over the last two decades is to see just how our lives are, and always were, always public. But on various scales. And a person’s social location contributes heavily to more public recognition or more marginalization. The realities of injustice and inequality become more obvious. So much work yet to do.
And still the values of humility, and grace without recognition, and invisible legacies are profoundly important. Perhaps they are more important now than ever. I think it is useful to ask ourselves the question: How do our lives matter in hidden ways?
And one of my own mostly-invisible legacies are the questions that I ask. A friend once told me while I was still in seminary that I had a gift of asking difficult questions without flinching or fear. That was an invisible legacy he left to me. I carry that affirmation with me every day. And I pay it forward to you with these questions today. Ask yourself without fear or flinching.
A Lesson Plan to Share
Do you think about invisible legacies? I’ve created a short lesson plan for you to consider the hidden spiritual work of encouragement, support, and meaningful contributions. I hope you will download it and use it to lead a Sunday school lesson, adult Bible study, ministry peer group, or conversation with friends who care about the invisible legacies we can and might create.
What will be the legacies of multiple pandemics, both visible and invisible? Sign up for the forthcoming report and learn more!
