The Legacy of God

on noticing and valuing the things He has given us

In the weeks before my mother died, she expressed to me on a phone call some worry that she might be forgotten. After all, she was young (66) and so was I (40) and so were my two kids (14 and 12). When she was gone, we would have so much life yet to live, so how could we maintain both relationship and memory as the years rolled on without her?

That day, I stood in the center of my kitchen and looked around, searching for an answer to the question. As I did, I noticed so many things that she had given me sitting in their places in my home: the key holder in the shape of a little house, the water-cooler, an art print we both had in our homes, a small mirror with a claddagh symbol on it. I continued to walk through my home and point out verbally the things she had given me, and I told her that if I stood in the center of any room and turned slowly around in a circle, I noticed no less than five such things. I promised my Mom that when I saw each item, I would remember her and her generosity of spirit, and how she loves us. It seemed to give her a measure of peace.

Today I woke up remembering that conversation, and it made me weep unexpectedly. My Mom has been gone now going on thirteen years, and it’s true that we’ve lived so much life since she went to Heaven. Though she and I have figured out some ways to communicate and to be in a kind of relationship and I trust her constant intercession for us all, of course it’s not the same. Of course, I’d give a whole lot for one face to face conversation with my mother, to hear from her own mouth her take after all these years. The objects in my home tell a story, but it’s not the whole story. The things my mother left behind on earth are a shadowland or touchstone of the fully restored, abundant life she is now living.

We humans want to be remembered, and we want our lives to have mattered, especially to the ones we love. For some who know the end of life is near, there’s a deep need to glimpse some bit of that legacy in advance. For those of us who are left behind, the touchstones of memory become more important with time – the things we can put our hands on, the things that make memory rise up in full color, the written words, the pictures and stories.

Jesus, too, felt a deep need to be remembered after His death, and He left behind words and sacraments and stories and touchstones to help us to do that in the long stretch of history after His ascension. Thank God, He also left us His Spirit to help us make sense of any of those things in the light of our current experience, place and time.

This week, may we stand in the center of our lives and slowly look around, finding those things that were given to us by our very good God. Let’s call them out and offer thanks to God for them. May we dig into His stories and may the memory of Who He is lead us on as we walk out the days that are given to us, until the day we meet again.

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Prayer:

Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and kindle in us the fire of your love. Help us remember you as you remember us. In the name of Jesus and wrapped in the mantle of our Mother Mary - for us and our dear ones we pray, amen.