What do you think people will talk about when they visited your grave or home?
Day three came, and I continued my adventures to Monticello.
I was so grateful to actually be at Thomas Jefferson's house. I had dreamed since being a little kid of going to Monticello, and I'm grateful that modern technology allowed that to be done.
The View was breathtaking from on top of the hill, looking over the deep green of the rolling hills of Southern Virginia. The architecture was stunning and so were the gardens. What intrigued me most was to hear what people talked about while visiting Jefferson's plantation. Normal, everyday conversations about groceries, bills, work problems and facebook postings were replaced by discussions of liberty, beauty, education, politics, the need of virtuous men today, and respect for Jefferson's breadth of knowledge. Just by visiting his house, and seeing what he'd created by his life, changed what people talked about--thus changing their thoughts, actions and the future. Jefferson is still effecting the future just by people visiting his house--fascinating.
That brought up me next question, "what will people talk about at my grave or house when I'm deceased?" Will my legacy inspire people to do better? Or will people look at my tomb as they perhaps may at King David's: "he had so much potential, it's a pity he fell so short".
As I've visited other homes and graves of Pioneers, at Nauvoo or Martin's Cove, the conversation almost inevitably turns to faith, courage, dedication, diligence and enduring to the end no matter the cost.
These people wrote their lives story in far more than journals. Their character runs so deep that how they lived and how they died was a testimony of who they were and what they believed.
Is my life that directed? Is my character that strong?
I decided today that I want to live my life in a way so that if one day people visit the home or grave of Lucas Reynolds, their thoughts will be inspired to do better, live more fully and love more sincerely.
I want my influence to last long after I'm laid to rest.
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