How to Leave a Legacy of Story
Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash
Your story is the greatest legacy that you
will leave to your friends. It’s the longest-lasting
legacy you will leave to your heirs. —Steve Saint
Moses tells people to remember what they have heard and seen and to pass it on to their children and grandchildren. It is one of our earliest invitations to leave a legacy.
I was thinking about my legacy the other day. What will I leave for my descendants? What do I want them to know?
Their past is my present and who better to tell the story? No one has seen things through my eyes or heard through my ears. I am the only one who can tell that story.
I also resist the whole idea of legacy because it presumes I will one day leave this earth.
Death is difficult to contemplate and leaving a legacy brings the subject right to the surface. So we avoid filling our minds with ideas of what to leave the universe when we die and keep busy living the best we know how today.
Deep under all the details filling our brains from daily life there flows a current of fear, hope, and questions – all without answers – creating a dull roar like a waterfall in the forest. Does this sound familiar? What do the falls have to teach us about living a legacy?
Photo by Ardis Mayo
MoxieFalls is one of my favorite spots in Maine. About one mile into the woods where the waters from a mountain stream plummet from the crest of a 70 foot drop it echos through the trees calling hikers to keep walking towards a deeper place in the forest to witness the source of the roar.
When I frame my fears, hopes and questions about the unknown as a waterfall I find myself challenged to take on the adventure of drawing closer to see the source of the rushing sounds going on within my soul. I am seldom prepared for the beauty hidden there.
There are several things I always take on a hike — a camera to record what I see, a hiking stick to keep from stumbling, solid boots to help me stay grounded.
If my trek is not a literal hike towards Moxie Falls, but an adventure across an inner landscape of hopes and fears, I need the same good equipment.
SOMETHING TO RECORD THE JOURNEY
Photo by dariusz-sankowski on Unsplash
First would be something to record the journey. A journal may serve better than a camera when searching for a waterfall, for we can record not only sites and sounds, but reflect on feelings that the adventure evokes along the way.
There is a challenge to using a pen and paper on a hike, however. We have to pause along our trek long enough to savor the wilderness and then sit still while trying to articulate its wonders on paper.
When we are deep in the forest of inner mysteries, struggling to keep our balance on unknown terrain we may find it difficult to be that still, wanting to keep going to either find the ‘falls’ or get back out of the forest into the light ASAP.
Journal keeping is not for everybody.
I prefer a camera when I am exploring wilderness areas.
It only takes a moment to record a photo of a tree or a cloud and I have the rest of my life to contemplate that image and its meaning in my life.
Acknowledging that I am getting a single perspective in one point in time, it is enough to trigger memories and inspire me to return in another season when the flora, light and sounds reflect that’s season’s environment.
This may be the best approach when trekking through inner landscapes.
With practice we can learn to linger in the shadows of our soul but in the beginning it is best to go into the unknown with a camera, to get a quick image of what we found on that one ‘hike’. Later, in the privacy and safety of home we can pause and reflect on these images and what they may try to tell us.
A legacy of photos can tell our stories as well as a journal.
A SOLID HIKING STICK
Photo by Tyler Lastovich on Unsplash
A second tool for hiking in the woods is something to keep from stumbling over the unexpected roots and rocks along the way. A hiking pole works well in the forest as we trek towards the sound of the falls.
We can use it to keep our balance and to prod interesting things like a pile of leaves which may hide a rock, a curly stick threatening to slither into our path, or the depth of a swampy puddle we need to navigate.
Hiking poles useful for crossing inner landscapes appear different but give us similar security as we walk.
What does a hiking pole look like in the land of our psyches?
Words from authors who walked this way before us and scriptures from many religious traditions are like physical sticks that search out the nooks and crannies of a forested mind that hides secrets in its shadows.
As we get more skilled with the poking and prodding, we keep moving towards the roar of the falls.
“Come closer… Come towards the promise of beauty at the end of your hike”.
A collection of our favorite ‘hiking poles’ can be supportive to our descendants in the same way.
STURDY WATERPROOF BOOTS
Photo by Fidel Fernando on Unsplash
A waterproof pair of boots sturdy enough to support aging arches and protect against the elements of a forest floor comprise the third piece of non-negotiable equipment we need to traverse a forest floor safely towards the waterfall.
St. Paul describes the best footwear in a letter he wrote to some people he wanted to equip for a special mission. He said to be shod with the ‘gospel of Peace’.
‘Gospel’ refers to good news and although it often refers to a religious doctrine, in a broader sense it is a set of beliefs that we all carry that guide us forward.
It is “good news” composed of many stories, memories and beliefs we hold sacred.
Telling our stories often, in person, letters, video, and in creative expressions like art, music and family recipes can serve as footwear for many generations to come.
When we set out on any adventure, whether through Maine woods, up a mountain in Colorado or across unfamiliar inner landscapes of our soul, we carry the gospel of others who have survived difficult situations, who give us confidence, and suggest which paths might be good ones to take as we wander these unknown and challenging terrains.
We know loved ones, friends, and acquaintances who will go to their own “Moxie Falls” in their life’s journey.
They will hear a roar of rushing streams of fears, hopes and questions and set out to find the source. Hopefully, they will arrive to see a beautiful 70 foot waterfall!
We will not be around to lead them, nor will we be available to receive them when they return.
But we can leave gear to use for their journey.
We can leave photos, journals and stories to inspire others to keep moving and not give up before discovering the awesome beauty of what may roar in the depth of their lives.
We can leave a library of favorite authors and books, or reviews of them, as guiding poles for their inner journeys.
And we can leave a gospel of peace for their feet so they, too, may stay grounded over difficult terrain – stories of faith, ways we have overcome challenges, things sacrificed along the way and the joy at the end of the hike.
Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones.
A legacy is etched into the minds
of others and the stories they share
about you. —Shannon Adler
