Legacy

Today is my beautiful mama's birthday! She's not here to celebrate in person (graduated early from this life when I was 7), but we love thinking about her extra today and remembering all of the light and goodness she brought while she was here.

Mom passed away at age 33. I don't know very many people in their early 30's who ponder their legacy, but she lived as if she thought about it all the time. Whether this was a special gift she had, or just the way she happened to move through the world, so many people were blessed by it -- and still are to this day.

If I had to assign one phrase to Mom's legacy, it would be: Christlike love. I still remember what it felt like to see her hand in mine and feel this love so strongly -- hands clasped, keeping me safe while crossing the street; reaching one hand from the drivers seat to hold mine in the back seat while we were singing at the top of our lungs to Gloria Estefan ("GET ON YOUR FEET!!"); tracing the lines on my hands during church... and the very last time I saw her in the intensive care unit at the hospital, feeling the 3 faint squeezes from her hand to mine that meant "I love you." Each time, I felt her love so deeply.

And I'm not the only one. SO many people were blessed by her huge legacy of Christlike love, in so many different ways. One person, one interaction at a time -- just like Him.

It's easy to think of legacy as something grand and flashy, like a big award or a building with your name on it. But the legacy Mom left was one created from tiny moments that compounded from day to day. We can do the same. Our tiny moments with the ones we love matter more than we'll ever be able to measure. Keep it up. You're doing more than you know, and it absolutely matters.