Legacy.

"What kind of life to you want to be able to reflect on when you are facing death?"

This {sort of morbid} question was posed by the pastor at the church we visited tonight.

And while it's uncomfortable to think about, it's also amazingly inspiring.

I'm turning twenty-one this weekend, and there's nothing like starting a new year to make you reflect.

On what I want to do.
On what I want to be.
On who I want to be.
And, after tonight, what sort of life I want to be able to reflect on when I am facing death.

So.  What sort of life do you want to be able to reflect on when you are facing death?

Uncomfortable, yes.  But also extremely freeing.

Why?

Because you are the one who gets to decide the answer to that question.  You are the one who determines what your legacy will be.  You are the one who decides what people will remember your life for.  What type of mark you will leave on the world.

So what will it be, then?

There are so many choices to make and things to do and so many experiences to have.  I hope you make wonderful choices that lead you great places, that you do amazing things, and that you have incredible experiences.

But at the end of the day, if it isn't ultimately all for God . . . then man, you guys.  It wasn't worth anything.

"I am the master of my fate.  I am the captain of my soul." -W. E. Henley

These words have been replaying over in my mind today.

Yes, I believe that God has an amazing plan for my life.  For your life.
But He has placed the pen that will write the legacy we have in our hands.
What a huge responsibility.
What an incredible gift.

I hope that today you will reflect on what type of life you want to be able to one day look back on.  I hope that you will then decide to start living that life, right this very second.

"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be who you want to be.  There's no time limit, stop whenever you want.  You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing.  We can make the best or the worst of it.  I hope you make the best of it.  And I hope you see things that startle you.  I hope you feel things you never felt before.  I hope you meet people with a different point of view.  I hope you live a life you're proud of.  If you find that you are not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald