Your heritage. Your legacy.

Earlier this year, I read the book of Judges in the Bible and realised that for generations, the children of Israel would obey the Lord, depending on who their ruler  was. The one generation would erect a monument or place of worship for the Lord and obey Him, and the next generation would, almost always for 40 years, go rogue by tearing down the tabernacle of the Lord and adopting whatever belief, culture and/or tradition that the people of the land in which they dwelt were praticising. God would get angry, step back from them and send them an enemy that would remind them to trust in the Lord again. Only then would they turn back to God and He would elect a leader to rescue them through Him and bring them back closer to Him. This is the legacy of the children of Israel in the book of Judges. Knowing their history of slavery and dominance, it's not so hard to understand why they needed to always be lead and directed towards God. They were oppressed for over 400 years and were told what to do, where to go and how to live for all those years. Even when Moses freed them from the Egyptians they still had the mentality of being slaves and submitted themselves under Moses, whom God had to remove from them before ushering them into the land of milk and honey. 

According to familysearch.org, heritage is a person's unique, inherited sense of family identity: the values, traditions, culture, and artifacts handed down by previous generations. In my walk of faith, I've heard a lot about generational curses and how to break them. I've always wondered what other generational limitations have we endured and thought were normal only because our parents and grandparents never addressed them or even armed themselves with the information needed to remove those limitations and free future generations. During this day of the internet and information being so easily accessible, what are you doing to ensure that your children and children's children will not  deal with what you, your parents and their parents have dealt with? What heritage are you going to leave your kids? Are you even aware of all the things that your family has been enduring, thinking that's it's normal because of how they've been raised? One of the things I had to deal with was depression before it became worse or manifested itself into something else, after realising that my mother and grandmother have endured life dealing with it. It's one thing that I don't want my children to inherit. If they do encounter it, I want them to notice it early and know exactly how to deal with it. 

Also remember to celebrate the good qualities, values and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. Your generational blessings. Just as much as curses can be passed down, I have to believe that blessings can also be passed down just the same. So, while taking inventory of the negatives, make sure that you also jot down the positives. All those qualities that make your family great. My family is known for my father's wisdom and my mother's generosity. I've always felt like royalty because of how my parents handled themselves. Unfortunately, my father passed away before I could really learn about his family and my mother's family has been very close to us. But ultimately, I choose the legacy that I want to leave my children. I have the power to arm them with information on the struggles that I face and how I've attempted to overcome them.

There's a song by Beyoncé called I was here, that makes me think of what heritage I want to leave my children and what impact I want to make in the world. What I want to be remembered for. I am posing this question to you as well as you read this. What footprint do you want to leave on the sands of time? What legacy do you think is worth putting fear aside to live? You are alive for such a time as this, so live your best life and inspire other to do the same.

Cheers.