As a Father's Day topic, I couldn't think of a better one than legacy. Often this word can take on financial connotations, or refer to older and more established systems (think legacy media). Today while we may reference these, we will discuss legacy in the sense of what we are leaving behind for others to follow or benefit from.

As people begin to get older and more established, leaving a legacy often takes on a greater importance. We start to realise our time here is getting shorter and look to find ways to create an impact that will outlast us - hopefully for multiple generations. This results in actions that become less and less about instant self gratification and more on outcomes that we might never actually see the end point of. We also have the benefit of looking back (see our discussion on past-perspective) to see the legacy that previous generations have passed on to us.

When considering building a legacy, I appreciate the words of financial guru Dave Ramsey. In his Financial Peace University (I recommend this if you need some financial literacy) the act of building this legacy first starts with being able to look after yourself (here the financial angle is being able to pay bills, have food/water/shelter), second is looking to your own future (a house, retirement planning etc.), and third is the legacy; where the future of family and or other pursuits are considered (e.g. putting aside money for kids university, creating a charity). While his words are generally relating to the financial aspects of being able to create a legacy, it correlates with the more general theme:

1. To be able to leave a legacy, one must first be able to be self-sufficient and take care of ones' own needs relatively easily.
2. The next step would be to set a plan in motion to (as best as possible) ensure some certainty for future self sufficiency - setting up a platform to move to step 3.
3. Legacy - this step is then pouring of the experience, expertise, finance, spirituality and so on from the abundance that has now been created into the next generation or project.

Our legacy that we leave will then require work, consistency and integrity to that which we aim to leave. This is going to be the sum total of the little things that we chose to do consistently (getting up early, working out, practicing piano) that often lead up to bigger achievements (graduating university, winning a sporting award, promoting to a higher paying job) that end up sign-posting the way for younger generations to follow and set the platform to allow us to expand this endowment we are looking to pass on further.

Bringing it back to Father's Day, a father's (and a mother's) legacy is one of investing into their children - investing time, energy, finance, emotion into their young progeny. This is what I am now striving for. Admittedly I am still relatively young in my "career" as a father and learning about how best to do this. Many disappointments and set backs occur (see frustration) but I do have the great privilege of being able to look back to those men (and women) who invested into me. My Dad, grandfathers, uncles and teachers (there are plenty of women also - just keeping in line with Father's day!) who invested into me have left me a legacy that not only do I benefit from, but also need to carry on to my own children.

I also acknowledge here that not all people are fortunate enough to receive a positive legacy from previous generations. In these situations it is important that we don't let this negative inheritance define us, but take it upon ourselves to break the cycle and start a new legacy ourselves. As with anything, it is important we take forward the positives, identify the negatives and resolve to define new legacies that we can take pride in.

"A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children..." Prov 13 v 22a