Legacy – A Quiet Walk

All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again

Cats Musical, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber,
lyrics by Trevor Nunn who built the lyrics from T. S. Eliot’s street-level nocturnes, 1981

A teddy bear, a used-to-be pink pony, a purple rabbit and a plaid dog.
old, well loved, now in a box . . .
forgotten

Memories, . . .
whisps of mist swirl around my head . . .
best friends lined up on a bed,
bear chasing rabbit,
dog chasing bear,
pony chasing dog.

All held tight in sleep
so long ago.

Memories are fragments of electric impulses in my brain
producing images of days long passed
running in fields, swings, thunderstorms
pain, hospitals, surgery, alone

I wonder how I survived
to make newer, younger memories
that push old ones out

Silly cards and pictures,
picnics, bicycles trips,
mountain passes, English Pubs and
Roman walls.

Memories, a ring of promise, a ring of love
wedding night held close, and
love in long gazes.

Memory of beloved lost
staring at the empty place
a ghost image forms
my heart longs for a voice missed
I listen for the memory

Time passes so fast and
memories, it’s all I have left,
all that holds me together.

The Egyptians understood immortality.
it is memory, remembering,
the joy, surprises, celebrations,
Yes, even the pain, failures and struggles,
when we stop remembering immortality ends.

All memories comprise a life, in this case
my life, who I am
Yet when I am gone . . .
Those memories will be gone.

Where do they go, those memories
those electric pulses that form
sounds, images, memory?
Maybe just maybe I will find out.

Ruth Jewell, ©September 16, 2026

Heed the counsel of your own heart, and above all pray to the Most High that you may be guided in the way of truth. Ecclesiasticus 37:13, 15

Caribbean Sea
December 16, 2015
Ruth Jewell

I was talking with a friend not long ago and he said his church was reevaluating its mission in the community. One of the questions he asked them was “what do they want to leave behind when they are gone”? What do they want their legacy to be? I thought that was an interesting question that all of us should consider in our lives. What do you want to leave to those who remain after you have passed on to the next world? What do I want to leave?

Contemplating our legacy is a serious question of the spiritual practice of living our lives with intention. Because of that I have been giving this question much thought during my sacred time each day. What is it about my life do I want to pass on to my family, my faith community, the world in general? How will living my life make a difference in this world? I know I don’t want to be remembered for just for doing my job or making a living, for me that is a superficial fact of surviving. I don’t want anyone to say survived the trials of living.

I think I do want to be remembered for being able to listen to a friend in need, for loving even those who I don’t agree with, taking action to right a wrong or feed and clothe the disenfranchised. I want to be remembered for standing and walking those who are growing spiritually and in their relationship with the Divine. I want to be remembered as someone who saw the Great Spirit in all I have met whether they belong to my faith or not, rich and poor, the outcast, the convicted felon, any and all who have been labeled unlovable. The short version is I want to intentionally live my life so that I will be a blessing to all around me. This is what I want, this is how I want my life to be lived and remembered.

I have to admit living into this intention is not easy for me, and I fail more often than I succeed. However, I know that the Great Spirit just says “OK, that didn’t work as you wanted it to, but pick yourself up and start over again, I am still here cheering you on.” So my prayer is for support and guidance and maybe, maybe just maybe I will do better tomorrow.

Each of our lives we are offered a choice of paths to follow. Intentionally choosing the path that leads to a life that grows your Spirit Being is never easy. Choosing an intentional life is always fraught pit falls and road-blocks. But living your life with the intention of being spirit filled and a blessing to those around you will be filled with joy amidst the tears of struggle and dark valleys we all go through. In living an intentional life you are never alone on your journey.

This week ask yourself what legacy do you want to leave? Does the life you live now match up with what you want? What will you do to live a more intentional life?

Blessings on your path.