What we leave behind

Last night I posted on my blog something that I started in May and finished last night called Summer Blessings. I received alot of feedback on this piece. Thanks to all of you who take the time to read my blog and share your thoughts with me. The more and more I thought of my Dad today and how so many bits and pieces of him live on though me. He has not died, he has just passed on. It's amazing how someone who really was in my life for such a short time could give me so many beautiful things. Things that I cherish about myself. The me I love the best. I truly take after my father more than anyone else in my life.
You know, today I thought about how it's not so much of what we do in this life time but what we leave behind. What will you be remembered for? What will Chris and Cassidy think about me? What legacy am I creating? What will remind them of me? I know that like my father I have made many choices that have complicated my life and those who around me. For those things I am truly sorry. I have asked forgiveness and I am so grateful for a son who is understanding and supportive of me. His love for me is true...it holds no wrongs. He forgives and he has forgotten. Rare for anyone to do but he has that gift and it has blessed me.
I wonder what our lives would be like if we looked for those gifts in those around us. If we saw pass the mistakes, the sometimes unkind words or actions and focused in on what it is about them that we love so much. Those things that they have blessed our lives with. Maybe it's the way they say something, or the way they laugh, or the way they forgive or their love for books, animals or children. It's there. As Thomas Merton said "No man is in Island". Everything we do affects those around us and that means good and evil. God did not make us to be alone and He just didn't throw us together. The bible said's that "He knit us in our mother's womb." It wasn't one of those....a little of this, a little of that and a dash of this for good measure No we where well thought of way before the beginning of time. We where formed thoughtfully and lovingly. More like "Aw a little more sensitivity, a little less anger and a hint of humor. She is beautiful and unique. I will give her some of her fathers and mothers traits because I love them and I need her to carry on their legacy with her own unique twist. After all I have a plan that still is not complete." Maybe this is why generation after generation has similar traits and talents. We casually say is so often "He takes after his grandfather, she takes after her mother."
So what will we leave behind? What will remind you of me? Maybe that would be a interesting question to ask those around you. Be prepared what they say might just surprise you!