L E G A C Y
Legacy. n.: a gift; something transmitted or received from an ancestor or predecessor from the past; a candidate for membership in an organization who is given special status because of a familial relationship to a member.
Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legacy
Legacy.
Wow. The word gives me chills. It leaves me in awe and wonder. Breathless wonder.
Legacy brings up a lot of emotion for me. In it lie a plethora of insecurities... spaces in which I feel subject for judgement or a pitied applause. In the context of a coastal girl now living in the Midwest, I face those who look at my family legacy with a furrowed brow. You mean your dad is not from here? Your parents aren't pastors? Did they even go to college? I hear their voices ask- some kindly, others less kindly. Good thing he made it before they built a wall. So many noises. Yet there is a dignity that my soul has longed for, a path to be forged to a far off place that my eyes have set on for ages- yet I know my ancestors have not walked there. Legacy.
Today, I opened a piece of mail. Legacy has been in my heart and mind and soul for the past few weeks, right on the forefront of my mind. I had the honor of contributing to the Springfield Student Leadership Summit's second annual event last weekend, with the topic of "legacy." And when I opened my mail this evening after supper, I felt adopted into a legacy anew. I had been selected for the Anne Spence Award, being recognized into a legacy of prayer, upstanding character, and effective change.
I am in breathless awe.
For those of you not familiar with the Assemblies of God legacy, Anne Tindol Spence was one of the foundational beacons that lit the pathway at Evangel University, where I am receiving my Bachelors of Arts Degree in Nonprofit Business Management and Social Enterprise degree in May this year. Each year, one man and one woman graduate is recognized for their Christian character and service, paired with a scholarship and recognition at the graduation ceremony; it is the highest honor one could receive at the institution. I have come to understand the great legacy of Anne Spence, and could not be more honored to be this year's recipient!
This means even more to me and I would like to take a moment to share part of why that is. As a young woman at twenty-two years of age, I am at a bit of a loss for words. My identity has been re-shaped and re-formed into something rather unexpected. Refined, if you will, in the past four years at this university. They say college is a time to find yourself and discover who you really are- after all, you are away from everything you once knew and can now begin to make your own distinctions on how you choose to value your life as well as the lives of those around you. You learn in college, and it's not just about economics and balance sheets... you learn about you, and how you would like to begin interacting in the world. Through this microcosmic decisions on the daily, you begin stacking bricks into your legacy, cementing them together day in and day out as you construct the house that you will live your life out of, if you will. Of course, some people move their house in later stages of life, and maybe add an addition to the original home. But as for myself and many other blessed, blessed students, we arrive on day one of our freshman college career with a foundation, a stack of pale bricks, and some sloppy, wet cement. We've looked over our shoulder to see how one person stacks their bricks, only to find that hardly anyone knows what they are doing and it all seems to be sort of okay that way in the end.
My point is this- there is a tension between confusion and excitement in every season, particularly as one closes one and begins another! I have walked this place for four sweet, memorable, life-shaping years and feel as though I have gotten every penny's worth of my experience here. I could not be happier, except that I do know this one last month is all that remains. I am not sad yet. It's not quite time for that!
To be selected for the Anne Spence Award is to be welcomed into legacy that is not my own. It is not my endowment by any rite or begotten privilege. I wasn't planning on it or supposed to be a part of this incredible legacy, but I feel as though I have been adopted, welcomed, and birthed into a family here at Evangel. My family may not have been from a long line of deliberate world-changers, blessed ministers, nation-inspirers, or hope-giving champions of faith that impact the generations, but we are now. To be part of this legacy is to be part of what Anne Spence spent her time championing- and that is the Kingdom of God. For those who are not part of the Assemblies of God, it may seem that I hold her in incredibly high regard, and I hope it is not interpreted as idolatrous! Instead, I spur you to think on men and woman in your life, or people in history such as Saints like Mother Teresa of Avila or many, many others- even apostles like Paul or patriarch like Moses, and that you reflect on the honor and legacy that our forerunners like Abraham have set before us! We celebrate those people! We honor them, and with that same kind of honor and respect I look forward to not only lift and further the legacy of Anne Spence, I hope to inspire it in others as well.
It is with great gratitude that I accept the legacy of Christian character and service. Furthermore, I would like to applaud God for the testimony that it speaks to my own soul: that it does not matter where we come from, or even what we begin our journey with as we make our way toward the cross. As undeserved as grace is, God himself endows us with a legacy greater than our own minds can conjure; he places upon us a new legacy, and new hope. We all stand on the shoulders of those who come before us, but even that does not define where God will take us. When we are welcomed into the family of God, into the kingdom of Heaven, God takes the first legacy allotted to us- our earthly legacy, and weaves into it a new thread, one that sews a bit of Heaven into our time on earth! He does something new within us, and awakens what He Himself has placed within us, perhaps from before the beginning of time... is not the Holy Spirit able to evoke a character into its fullness through the renewing of our mind and spirit? Can God move through the body of the youngest and oldest through prayer and service and pureness of heart?!? Absolutely. Absolutely, yes, and amen. For we have seen it yesterday and today and we will watch His faithfulness do it again tomorrow. This, is legacy.
Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legacy
Legacy.
Wow. The word gives me chills. It leaves me in awe and wonder. Breathless wonder.
Legacy brings up a lot of emotion for me. In it lie a plethora of insecurities... spaces in which I feel subject for judgement or a pitied applause. In the context of a coastal girl now living in the Midwest, I face those who look at my family legacy with a furrowed brow. You mean your dad is not from here? Your parents aren't pastors? Did they even go to college? I hear their voices ask- some kindly, others less kindly. Good thing he made it before they built a wall. So many noises. Yet there is a dignity that my soul has longed for, a path to be forged to a far off place that my eyes have set on for ages- yet I know my ancestors have not walked there. Legacy.
Today, I opened a piece of mail. Legacy has been in my heart and mind and soul for the past few weeks, right on the forefront of my mind. I had the honor of contributing to the Springfield Student Leadership Summit's second annual event last weekend, with the topic of "legacy." And when I opened my mail this evening after supper, I felt adopted into a legacy anew. I had been selected for the Anne Spence Award, being recognized into a legacy of prayer, upstanding character, and effective change.
I am in breathless awe.
For those of you not familiar with the Assemblies of God legacy, Anne Tindol Spence was one of the foundational beacons that lit the pathway at Evangel University, where I am receiving my Bachelors of Arts Degree in Nonprofit Business Management and Social Enterprise degree in May this year. Each year, one man and one woman graduate is recognized for their Christian character and service, paired with a scholarship and recognition at the graduation ceremony; it is the highest honor one could receive at the institution. I have come to understand the great legacy of Anne Spence, and could not be more honored to be this year's recipient!
This means even more to me and I would like to take a moment to share part of why that is. As a young woman at twenty-two years of age, I am at a bit of a loss for words. My identity has been re-shaped and re-formed into something rather unexpected. Refined, if you will, in the past four years at this university. They say college is a time to find yourself and discover who you really are- after all, you are away from everything you once knew and can now begin to make your own distinctions on how you choose to value your life as well as the lives of those around you. You learn in college, and it's not just about economics and balance sheets... you learn about you, and how you would like to begin interacting in the world. Through this microcosmic decisions on the daily, you begin stacking bricks into your legacy, cementing them together day in and day out as you construct the house that you will live your life out of, if you will. Of course, some people move their house in later stages of life, and maybe add an addition to the original home. But as for myself and many other blessed, blessed students, we arrive on day one of our freshman college career with a foundation, a stack of pale bricks, and some sloppy, wet cement. We've looked over our shoulder to see how one person stacks their bricks, only to find that hardly anyone knows what they are doing and it all seems to be sort of okay that way in the end.
My point is this- there is a tension between confusion and excitement in every season, particularly as one closes one and begins another! I have walked this place for four sweet, memorable, life-shaping years and feel as though I have gotten every penny's worth of my experience here. I could not be happier, except that I do know this one last month is all that remains. I am not sad yet. It's not quite time for that!
To be selected for the Anne Spence Award is to be welcomed into legacy that is not my own. It is not my endowment by any rite or begotten privilege. I wasn't planning on it or supposed to be a part of this incredible legacy, but I feel as though I have been adopted, welcomed, and birthed into a family here at Evangel. My family may not have been from a long line of deliberate world-changers, blessed ministers, nation-inspirers, or hope-giving champions of faith that impact the generations, but we are now. To be part of this legacy is to be part of what Anne Spence spent her time championing- and that is the Kingdom of God. For those who are not part of the Assemblies of God, it may seem that I hold her in incredibly high regard, and I hope it is not interpreted as idolatrous! Instead, I spur you to think on men and woman in your life, or people in history such as Saints like Mother Teresa of Avila or many, many others- even apostles like Paul or patriarch like Moses, and that you reflect on the honor and legacy that our forerunners like Abraham have set before us! We celebrate those people! We honor them, and with that same kind of honor and respect I look forward to not only lift and further the legacy of Anne Spence, I hope to inspire it in others as well.
It is with great gratitude that I accept the legacy of Christian character and service. Furthermore, I would like to applaud God for the testimony that it speaks to my own soul: that it does not matter where we come from, or even what we begin our journey with as we make our way toward the cross. As undeserved as grace is, God himself endows us with a legacy greater than our own minds can conjure; he places upon us a new legacy, and new hope. We all stand on the shoulders of those who come before us, but even that does not define where God will take us. When we are welcomed into the family of God, into the kingdom of Heaven, God takes the first legacy allotted to us- our earthly legacy, and weaves into it a new thread, one that sews a bit of Heaven into our time on earth! He does something new within us, and awakens what He Himself has placed within us, perhaps from before the beginning of time... is not the Holy Spirit able to evoke a character into its fullness through the renewing of our mind and spirit? Can God move through the body of the youngest and oldest through prayer and service and pureness of heart?!? Absolutely. Absolutely, yes, and amen. For we have seen it yesterday and today and we will watch His faithfulness do it again tomorrow. This, is legacy.
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