We were notified that the “2021” had finally been engraved on my wife Tammy’s Mom’s headstone, so we drove over to the cemetery. As I looked at the headstone, I noticed that it rather coldly summed up her life with her birth and death dates, separated simply by a dash. For Jane, that dash represented more than 89 years of life.  During those years, she was a wife, a sister, a nurse, a mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She left a wonderful legacy for her family. That got me to thinking about what my dash will represent. What legacy will you or I leave?
Alistair Begg in his devotional book Truth for Life, writes:
Each of us is leaving a legacy. Every day we are adding something to the portrait of our lives, and eventually what we leave behind—our decisions, our contributions, our priorities—will remain, at least for a time, for others to reflect upon and consider.”

As I write this, I have been retired for almost five years and am now 66 years old. My father, who outlived his father, lived to the age of 84. None of us know how many more minutes, days or years that we have left to live. Although it’s not healthy to think of it, we are all just one red light run or medical diagnosis away from the date to the right of the dash. If I outlive my father, I might have twenty more years to live. That is a sobering thought.
The Lord has equipped me as a leader (in the workplace and church) and also theologically (at Covenant Seminary). How can I use the Lord’s equipping to bring Him the most glory in the time I have left? It’s something I think of often.
Pastor Begg helpfully tells us that we should:
“Do the work God has prepared for you to do and make a difference for Him. After all, we never know when we’ve just made our final deposit in the legacy we’re leaving.”
I want to be “used up” for Christ in the time I have left. I long to have the legacy that Begg writes of below:
“A legacy of faithfulness, godliness, kindness, gentleness, honesty, integrity, love, and peace is a legacy that will be remembered with affection. But most importantly, it will point people to the one whose life matters most—the Lord Jesus.”
Have you thought about the legacy you are leaving? How will you be remembered for your dash?