What Are You Leaving?

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as a beautiful new day dawns!

Oh my goodness! I was 0 for September in writing Happy Friday! The juggling of a changing work schedule, travel, school starting & kids sporting events have absolutely kicked my rear end! This morning it was like going to see an old friend. I woke up before the alarm, bright eyed and excited to write...and here I am! :)

It is funny, though I did not get to write Happy Friday for a month, the thought I have wanted to share with you has not changed. About a month ago I was listening to the radio and one of the people on the radio said, "don't focus on what you are going to leave people, focus on what you are going to leave in them." I have literally thought about that saying at least once a day, every day, for the past month.

Old houses have always fascinated me. When driving down the highway and seeing an old, run down, dilapidated house I can't help but think back to when it was new. Who were the people who lived there? It was once shiny, beautiful & new...what did it look like then? Were the people as excited to move into that house as my family and I have been to move into our homes? What memories did they share there? Was it bustling with activity? You can almost close your eyes - don't try this if you are driving! :) - and see little kids running around playing in the yard. But now? There is nothing. There is no activity. Nobody would go in there...unless you crawl, slither or walk very, very close to the ground.

In many ways we are like that house. We were once young, fresh & new. Everyone fawned over us, played with us and we were the epitome of activity. However like those old houses there will come a time when earthly life leaves us. What will be left then?

We spend a great deal of time trying to acquire stuff. We buy houses & cars. We buy clothes & jewelry & toys. We buy all of this "stuff" and all this "stuff" has a shelf life. I am sure I am not the only parent who has bought something for one of my kids because they really "needed" or "had to" have it only to find that within days, perhaps hours, they could care less about it. It's "stuff." It doesn't matter.

So let's shift for a moment and talk about the stuff that is on the inside, not on the outside.  After all, these are things that can never be taken...they will exist forever, as long as the living being that holds them is alive. Think about it Friends, literally every earthly possession can be taken, we can be stripped down until we are completely naked, what is left then? Let me pull out a few things...

• Faith - where or in what am I placing my faith? In the life I live more than in the words I speak. Am I teaching & showing this to my Beautiful Bride, Tender Warriors...every person I am privileged to come into contact with? There will come a time in every one of our lives when we will need faith, when nothing else will sustain us...what have I left in them? The house, the car, the "stuff" won't help them...they will have to have faith. Have I taught them? Shown them? Though I won't physically be there to help or show them will they know where to go, what to do?
• Hope - in who or what am I placing my hope? A person? My job? Our house? People leave, my job & house can be taken...where is hope being placed? Again, am I showing them where to place hope so joy can never be taken? What am I leaving in them?
• Love - am I demonstrating unconditional love for everyone? Isn't it ironic how we want to judge, classify & generalize people...until we need help. Then all of the sudden we want everyone to be kind, loving & helpful. What would this world look like if we were kind, loving & helpful all the time...not just when we wanted or needed something? Am I leaving this in the people I am privileged to do life with every day?
• Value - do I truly value other people and myself? Do I truly believe, and walk out, that every life has value, meaning & purpose? When I have gone to be with the Lord will my boys look at someone as a bum or will they know, despite the brokenness & pain, that every life - every life! - has value, meaning & purpose, regardless of whether or not the person is choosing to pursue it? Will they look for the good in others? Perhaps help others find the good within themselves that they didn't know, or forgot, exists? What am I leaving in them?
• Excellence - am I truly striving to become the best I am capable of becoming every day? Am I instilling in others the pursuit of personal excellence, which is not tied to a measurable outcome as it is too great to be measured? When Payton is pursuing his dream of playing college football and the road looks dark & bleak, when Landry is in the last day of Hell Week for Navy Seal training or when Gehrig is pitching in the World Series, it is the bottom of the 9th, bases are loaded, there are 2 outs and his team is up by 1 - I am coming alongside my Tender Warriors in their hopes, goals & dreams here - what have I placed in them for those moments? Have I taught them to go for it or to quit? Have I taught them to do their best and in this they will find victory? Have I taught them to fear failure or to pursue greatness? Have I taught them it is impossible or that with God all things are possible? Their hopes, goals & dreams are on the line...what have I left in them?

Houses, cars & "stuff" are nice. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of them. I guess the real issue is the value we place on them. I hope today Friends we will give serious thought and consideration to the things we will leave in those we are privileged to do life with as opposed to the things we will leave for them.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend & please cherish your precious families.

Kev