We’ve seen both sides of the coin. One family legacy leaves a trail of rising stars and the other leaves its future barely gets by. One side helps subsequent generations consistently rise higher in ability and opportunity through wise planning. The other side seems to leave the future generations to fend for themselves, most barely able to survive with constant disasters wiping them out as they live from paycheck to paycheck. One side sees opportunities everywhere they look, the other side experiences only the problems that continually wipe them out.
One says, “Another day! Another opportunity!” The other says… “Oh no! Another day!”
There was a study done years ago that tracked two families from the same time period. One side continually produced a heritage of business leaders, high government officials, wealth and a steady growing stream of offspring that improved the country for the better. At the same time, another family made some bad choices and started the dismal slide into prisons, constant failures and a heritage of folks that cost taxpayers over and again through assistance, legal challenges and incarcerations. (I cannot find this study in my files but I’m looking for it…it’s here somewhere!)
“You see, a legacy can be anywhere on the continuum,
from very bad to very good –
it all depends on how we live our lives.” ~Jim Rohn
Your legacy can be good. Or it can be bad. Imagine being born into a family with a nefarious name and history of crime and low-life… How do you change that inherited legacy into something good? This is the dream of every generation! Get out of the rut of life and do something better with their choices. When they do it well, then their next generation can rise up and take the next logical step and build on the foundation. And so on.
But make a bad choice, commit an inexcusable mistake, take the wrong path, or even have no plan to bounce back when life throws a curveball, then it is easy to see the future slide for generations and the cost to society can be huge. We’ve studied about people who never recovered from economic downturns, wars, or even natural disasters. There are some things that make a bounce back difficult.
History is replete with examples of one generation making a mistake and a future generation righting the ship and returning to a better life by better choices. Equally, there are more who started how well and missteps crumbled their future and there was no righting the ship. Several generations may pass before the family name rebounds.
But there is one nation that found it’s future and blessing based on the life of a single man, and even though the hills and valleys of life have been wicked, there is still the promise of a blessing that came from his life.
Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3 NKJV)
If you track Abraham (Abram) you will not find him faultless on every front. He made mistakes, took wrong turns, and continually had to learn from life how to make things better. He was constantly dealing with the politics, culture, and laws of the era but still showed a faith in God to move forward. At the age of 75, God calls him out, sends him forth, and gives him the promise of a great future. Even though he lives another 100 years, what is obvious to me, he will not live long enough to see this future blessing, but he strikes out trusting God.
I do not pretend to understand life back then, but Abraham and his bride, Sarah, have no children. They started their path with God at an age older than I am, and when they are about to reach triple digits, Abraham asks God about this.
Then He [God] brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:5-6 NKJV)
Alright. Time to get busy having kids! Still. Nothing happens. Sarah convinces her husband to produce a child by her servant, Hagar, and at least there will be a son. (Genesis 16) Okay. That’s different. Ishmael is born and eventually, God blesses him to become the father of 12 tribes of sons. A great nation comes from this one event!
But that’s still not God’s plan for Abraham. That was a man working out the legacy issue and determining to take matters into his own hands. God then promises Abraham and Sarah that she will have a son (Genesis 17), and this eventually happens after several trials are dealt with. (Genesis 18-20) Abraham is now 100 when Isaac is born. Eventually, Sarah dies, and Abraham takes another wife and produces 6 more sons.
But it is through Isaac, that son of promise, that Abraham will bless to carry on the promise from God. From Isaac, we get Jacob and Esau (that’s a separate story), and the future is carried through Jacob (now called Israel in Genesis 32:28). Long after Abraham is gone we see the nation formed that still exists to this very day.
Has it been an easy path? No. Trouble every time they turned around! Have they been successful? Not in the sense that we would judge their 2,000-year history by today’s standard. Their homeland has been torn from their grasp, although they are rebuilding. Their people have undergone persecutions that threaten to wipe them off the face of the earth. But they still survive.
Consider this. Dynasties come and go. Nations rise and fall. Governments become and dissipate like the clouds over the mountains. Prominent families struggle for several generations after their legacy is established, and many of them no longer exist with a legacy to build on. And companies are being bought, sold, traded and dismantled every day so there is no family heritage that exists like it was planned…
Here’s my thought today. A legacy is not born to produce an ease of life, but rather to give a framework for continuation into the future by progeny that have a foundation to build on. That foundation, properly built and executed will produce a heritage that will last for generations to come. But each generation has to make up their mind to build, and not destroy, their heritage. Challenges by the current world can shake the foundation! Technologies, technique, culture, politics and even the family structure can make some things obsolete, but if we are founded on that strong Rock then the heritage will continue forward.
The psalmist recorded this message on the day that God delivered him from his enemies and from Saul.
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. (Psalms 18:2-3 KJV)
Think about it. A legacy started by his forefather, Abraham, allowed him to become King of Israel and to rejoice in a victory started generations before him! His offspring will not do as well. Solomon begins well but ends far from the path his father establishes. The kingdom goes through wars and fighting, from without and within. Captive. Split apart. Homeland destroyed. But God still had a plan. The legacy still extends! For thousands of years, we find that the plan cannot be zapped by the failure of a generation or destruction of a kingdom. No. God planted the seed within Abraham who accepted the vision and that Legacy still impacts the world today.
I have purchased many “Gurley” items on the internet and visited many places with “Gurley” in their name. Though my mom handles the ancestry end of research, I did find something today that makes me proud to have this name as my heritage. Notice the translation of our family motto….
The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.
Motto: Profunda cernit
Motto Translation: He comprehends profound things.
Now. I may not be able to track my heritage beyond a few generations, but there are people with my Last Name that go back for hundreds of years. Scotland. Ireland. The New World. I will report what my DNA test says about me in the near future!