What do you desire most? What is it that you truly want in life? Isn’t it ultimately to have peace in the knowledge that you provided for your loved ones, that you have made an impact on them and your community by how you’ve lived. In other words, don’t you truly want the satisfaction of knowing your legacy matters? How can you be intentional about that?
St Paul show us the way in Philippians 4. He tells us how to create our legacy by imitating him in these ways:
- Rejoice in the Lord always.
- Let your kindness be known to all
- Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
- make your requests known to God.
Paul goes on to give more specifics. He says, “whatever is true, honorable, just, whatever is pure, lovely, and gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Finally, Paul invites us to keep on doing what we have learned and received, heard and seen in him. Because when you do, then the God of peace will be with you.
Contrast that with the world’s way to peace. Culture is constantly enticing us with images of the things we think we need, inviting us to pleasurable social activities we think we need to do, and luring us to the adventures we think we need to have in order to be happy. While this stuff may make us happy for a while, we know that happiness of this kind is fleeting.
Instead, let’s obtain God’s peace, the peace beyond understanding by imitating Paul in the truth of this passage. Keep on doing what you learn from it: rejoice, don’t worry, trust in God, and put Him first in all things. Padre Pio advises us to, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.”
What a legacy we would create if we lived this way. Legacy isn’t so much about leaving stuff behind. It’s the impact you make on others by how you live. You know your legacy matters when other people do good because of you.
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