Your legacy.

I am not sure how many people think about their legacy. You have to ask yourself what your life would be remembered for, what is most important?

As a Christian, I want my legacy to be one that glorifies God. Being remembered for my business acumen or financial success is not my goal. I want to be remembered for living my life and working with excellence in all I do for the sake of the Lord my Savior.

I’ve chosen to pursue business acquisitions as a way to serve and worship God. Our objective is to be a gospel light in the businesses that we acquire, both through providing well paying jobs and by vocally sharing the Gospel. I believe that my kids will be proud of the way we conduct business for the Glory of God.

Now should our focus actually be “How to I build something my kids will be proud of?” No our focus as Christians should be “How do I serve God with excellence”.

Enough qualifying, I just wanted to make sure you understood where I start when I think about legacy.

I am excited to leave behind something that will be a blessing to my children and hopefully their children. I want them to look back and see humility and generosity. I would hate for them to see a penny pincher who did his very best to pull as much money out of his employees as possible.

Pause. Is building a business the only way to build a legacy? No, however that is where I am in life and my legacy will likely include the business that I and my brother started.

What legacies can we leave behind?

1. Character
2. Community
3. Work
4. Creativity
5. Spiritual

When I think of my legacy, I want to be a man remembered for his character in whatever I do. I want that reflected in my work, community, creativity and spiritual walk. I believe that if we put God first everything else will fall into place. That being said, I want to be remembered for being a business owner who cared deeply for his employees, both on the tangible scale as well as on the spiritual scale.

I’m going to leave character up in that list, but I don’t believe I would pick anything over character. Our character is how we respond to situations, how we serve, love and care. I would place character outside the list as something we should have before anything else. Our character should be loving, caring, joyful thankful, self controlled…. Wait so the Fruits of the Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galations 5:22-23

We can’t go wrong with placing our walk with God as the most important legacy. It shapes everything else, if God is first all that you are working to do will be impacted by that relationship.

Legacies

Assuming I am placing God first. I want my kids to remember that I was a hard worker, and that I cared for their well being. I want to leave a legacy that shows how a man should treat his wife and kids. How a man should provide and push forward no matter the obstacle.

I want them to remember my love for them and the care I showed to my employees and friends.

I do not want to be remembered for making lots of money, or for being a good businessman.

How am I building my legacy?

One step at a time, I make mistakes. I do my best to learn from my mistakes and own them. My daily decisions reflect my desire to serve God and family. I work hard to provide financially and emotionally. My kids see me pursue business acquisition, they see my drive and passion. In the end I just want them to look to God for their strength. It is what I do, and I want them to know that they can pursue anything for the glory of God. Business ownership, inventing, parenting, going to space, cooking a meal, working at a starbucks.

1 Corinthians 10:31

³¹ So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

That sums it up.