The Evidence We Leave Behind...

My dog Zack is a little ambivalent about Halloween.  He hates the strangers at the door and barks his head off with every “costumed neighbor,” but on the other hand, he loves the stash of candy that lingers around the house for a few days.  He’s smart enough to know that if he is patient enough, and if he will beg sweetly enough with his big, brown eyes, that just maybe he will get a taste of some sweet treat.  His favorite piece of candy is a bite of Tootsie Roll… don’t judge.  I know that’s wrong on many levels.  I discovered recently that he also has a taste for an occasional Tootsie Pop.

A couple of mornings ago, I awoke early and headed to my usual spot in my study.  Underneath my desk, where my dog often rests at my feet while I work, I discovered the following things… a shredded wrapper from a Tootsie Pop along with the remains of the safety stick that once held the candy.  It didn’t take much to put it all together… my dog had eaten an entire Tootsie Pop.  (The fact that he had bits of red candy stuck in the fur around his mouth also tipped me off.)  He might have avoided the guilt of his crime had he not left the evidence behind.

Let’s talk about us.  We do tend to leave a trail, don’t we?  There is evidence, not of candy eaten, but of where we have been, what we have done, and the legacy lived.  So here’s my question… “What does the evidence that you leave behind say about your life?”  When the record of your life is written, what will it reveal?  Is there a trail of kindness offered, grace extended, and forgiveness granted?  Or do we leave evidence of bitterness, anger, and selfishness?  Someone once said, “You can’t leave a legacy if you don’t live a legacy.”  So pay attention to your life.  What messages both verbal and non-verbal do you send to others?  What fruit does your life produce?  Will there be enough evidence to suggest that the Spirit of Christ lived in your heart and governed your days?

I would think that at the end of our lives, the greatest joy we could imagine would be that of knowing that our lives mattered… that we made a difference.  I would also think that the greatest sorrow would be knowing that we didn’t.  Pay attention to the evidence that you leave behind.