by Clarence Hill Jr.
There are many things that we can touch with our hands, seize with our strength and manipulate with our ingenuity, but time is not one of them. The time that we have in life is precious and a challenge to get on top of. It rules with consistency and often makes shreds of many of our intentions and desires, especially when difficulties arise. At sunrise, we are summoned with all of creation to awake and make the best use of time, but we are never called to the heavenly table of counsel to re-think the number of hours in a day, the length of man’s days, nor to entertain the option of granting men another chance at yesterday. Upon every sunset, whether we deem ourselves accomplished, failed or behind in our efforts, the heavens say, “rest now tender one, tomorrow will not tarry”, yet we fight time. We struggle with its ordinance, but it speaks so softly saying nothing at all. Our lot is a fragile life, a questionable record of decisions and a clock set in motion.
What will we do? We were ‘just married’ not long ago, whether 5, 10 or 20 years, yet from our hearts we desire more of life and more of our marriage. How can we now make an agreement with time to work together with us for the most fruitful use of our days?
The answer is to build a legacy…something that will live beyond our years, something that is not swallowed by time, but given a platform by it. It is a focus that gives new strength to resolving issues and believing in a greater tomorrow. It is where time becomes the stage for our testimony, the curtains of presentation for our performance and the highway billboard for our message.
Many things good and bad are held in remembrance long after they are gone, so why not have a legacy of a loving marriage. Why not leave a legacy of love to our children, other’s children and all who see us? One day (of our married lives) here and there may prove to be rocky and less than desirable, but the sum total of our married days can testify of faithfulness, sacrifice, mutual respect, honor, purpose and accomplishment. Even if this present day sums the bad of our lives to be far greater than the good, it is still better to have such a vision of hope for tomorrow. It’s clear, simple and so right. Our marriages are called to leave a legacy of love.
So many couples and children today received a legacy of strife, of heartache and of disappointment when it came to marriage and family, but we are of a new family in Christ and our tomorrow can be different. Since we are called to such a high calling, be sure that there is also grace to accomplish this desire.
Can you see it? While you walk through the mall or go about your day, someone you don’t know and may never meet, looks at you and your spouse and says, “if they can have a good marriage, I can too” or a single persons says, “maybe I will get married, they’re doing something right” or better yet, your children say “we’re going to have great marriages just like Dad and Mom (or Grandma and Grandpa)”.
Build a legacy of love. Build with joy and lots of laughter. If strife, bitterness and frustration were intense under your roof, now let love be even more intense. Have fun while you build. Flirt with each other. Make your children sick to the stomach and blow kisses, go on dates without them, pinch, chase each other, write love letters, leave notes, make your children start to wonder if they are just tolerated accidents of a love-sick couple. Be best friends in the good times and the bad. If the friends of your children unfortunately have to talk about their parents’ constant fighting and bickering, let yours have to talk about two big kids sitting in the house waiting for them to go to bed early. Their grades will go up. Their attention span will increase. They will be bold and live life with strength and an expectation of good in God. In fact, they will have a beautiful standard and model for choosing a spouse when their day comes to build a legacy of love.
Time has given us today, so let us build. We will leave a generation that celebrates marriage, that doesn’t fear commitment and that has seen how to face real adversity and overcome with wisdom and faith in God. We have been called for such a time as this! We all will be remembered for something; let us leave a legacy of love.
The memory of the just is blessed.”
Proverbs 10:7
