Legacy

Matthew “6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
“As we all breakfasted together on the morning of 24, March 1943, I could have no idea of the shadows that were already reaching out towards my two light-hearted passengers.” Hugh Verity, We Landed by Moonlight~
Research—I tend to enjoy much of the reading that goes with research. The distinguished Hugh Verity was a decorated pilot who, as the title of his book says, was a part of the RAF that helped land agents in the French resistance movement by moonlight during World War II.
There was research for each one of my first three books (the Ebenezer series), such as research behind (beginning date on June 10, 1987, for the first book, If I Should Die) the weather, clothing styles, music, technology for phones and computers, cars and many different aspects we don’t normally think about.
At this time I’m working on a new book set in the 1930s through 1957. As I work in the era of what we call “The Great Depression”, I’m amazed at the depth and quality of life and death.
The late 1800s and on through the 1900s exploded with inventions from the automobile to airplanes and trains. As one gospel preacher, Marshal Keeble, put it, From Mule Back to Super Jet with the Gospel.
The thoughts here aren’t about research they are about legacy. Legacy has an edge of memories to it. As someone said in an earlier post, “we exist as long as we are remembered.”
But legacy is more than memory. A legacy is something left behind to others—sometimes by someone who is/was known to them but not always. A legacy can be good or bad, beneficial or a hindrance.
There is a term for the WWII generation that gave so much, not just for our country, but for the freedoms the entire world has enjoyed since. They are known as “The Greatest Generation.”
They have given us the benefits of their sacrifices—a legacy. As I work through the research for my next novel, “Gene’s Story: Tears In His Bottle” there are so many nuances, and although the tough grit and determination of those men and women have been so outstanding…
As someone stated, it’s the parents of that generation who ought to be applauded. The generation that went before the greatest generation were the ones that suffered as adults through the depression era and the dust bowl era, the horror and struggle of raising their families.
Some didn’t make it. They walked out on their families, but many did hold the course. They went from the roaring twenties into the fire of the thirties, forging the generation that fought in WWII in the forties.
Legacies begin before they are inherited. When you ponder the idea that God put you where you are for such a time as this, and there are no coincidences, we ought to wonder.
I am past the point of contemplating on my life’s purpose. As quoted by Corrie Ten Boom, “Don’t bother to give God instructions, just report for duty.” I watch nature and after many years I’ve decided the sun doesn’t ask, why do I exist? and animals don’t wonder what their job is. The birds and bees don’t fret about any of those things either. They just report for duty.
So, what’s the legacy of all of this? The scriptures tell us all sorts of advice. The first necessity is to know God (and be known by God). The last is to trust God.
Jeremiah 9:
“23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.”
Matthew 6:
“27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
As the two “light-hearted passengers” that Hugh Verity referenced in the first paragraph, didn’t know the horrors that were to come—none of us know what shadows, good or evil, are reaching toward us. However, it is important to be ready, to be prepared.
Matthew “6: 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”