“Building Your Legacy” is a new series of highlighting topics to aid in building your life and legacy as it becometh you.

The first segment of Building Your Legacy is to define legacy and elements of a well-crafted legacy.

You are writing your legacy every day, that is a fact. But a well-crafted legacy is not automatic, it requires that we are an active participant in the building of our legacy.

We all need the proper supplies or elements when we participate in any building process. For a well-crafted legacy lets start with the basic elements that will go into your legacy.

So what is a legacy?

When we think of a legacy we commonly think of two things. It happens at the time of our natural death and it refers to a time when our finances or personal possessions are distributed to family or friends.

That view of legacy is real and normally happens to us all, in God’s timing of our natural death. And even with these two descriptions, without planning or thoughtful decisions made in advance, the outcome may not work out as you desire.

The thought that legacy is what happens after you die only becomes a legacy if you have built it intentionally.

The thought that legacy is when your finances or personal possessions are given to family or friends, again will not go according to your wishes unless you take time to arrange for your desires to be carried out.

But our legacy is more than the above two opportunities. Your legacy is crafted throughout your life and it is our responsibility to take ownership of that building process. Here is how I describe legacy.

Legacy is the fruit that remains after we leave a place, group, season, or assignment. (John 15:16)

I love this message about legacy! Everyone is reading your legacy as you live it, even if you never pick up a pen.

“Read” here is a noun

Read here is a noun because it is something people name and will take with them into their life as they watch yours. It is interpreted and extracted by the elements that you embrace and practice in your life and legacy.

Here are some examples of legacy’s that you may recognize.

• The legacy of researchers provides medical cures.
• The legacy of parents trains up children to influence our world.
• The legacy of a Bible teacher reveals spiritual truths to all generations.
• The legacy of entrepreneurs shows the way to reaching for destiny.

You may not be called to be one of the above, but you are called to be fruitful in your personal legacy.

You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. John 15:16

Embrace today this truth, that legacy is the life we live, the choices we make, the truths we share and the love we unconditionally give knowing no one is perfect, but we can all bear fruit and fruit that will remain.

In building our legacy you have elements that are the baseline of your decision-making process. Although many of those elements will be individualized by your calling or purpose, to craft a well-crafted legacy these elements are needed in every life and legacy.

So what is an element?

An element is a principle and rudimentary part of the quality of what is being built or purposed unto completion.

This means that these elements are necessary for us to craft or build the legacy that shall bear fruit that will remain after we go on to a different place, group, season, or assignment.

Elements impact, the impact causes change, and change makes room for growth or redirection. Our legacy is impacted by different elements, some are unique to our calling or purpose; others are foundational parts, that are woven together in every God built legacy.

These are principle elements to building because they are catalysts of change in life.  Change is the fuel that enables our legacy to be what God has designed and not what we desire. 

In crafting a legacy we know that Gods design will always trump our desires

The elements of passion, bravery, restful emptiness, and forgiveness enable us to do the necessary sorting of priorities to follow His design and release our desires.

In the coming “Build Your Legacy” segments we will look at each of these four elements in more depth. Although they do work together in our life, they will work as He wills to empower us to do those greater works of our well-crafted legacy with fruit that will remain.

Until next time, remember, we craft our legacy daily, do it as it becometh you.

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