I walked up the hill ,passing St Chad’s church on my left, crossed over the road went ,through the blue gates and into The Quarry park
Despite the fact it was a beautiful morning the place was almost empty , two dog walkers who had the easy familiarity of people who had met many times before ,were chatting near the entrance, as their canine friends chased each other round and round in ever increasing circles, In the middle distance a young couple who had eyes only for each other were sitting on the grass in the sunshine.
They were oblivious to my presence as I crossed the park and walked down into the deserted dingle ,admiring the incredible beauty of the gardens, splashed with vibrant colour, and the skill of those who created, and indeed maintain, such a peaceful and enjoyable place.
Coming from Shropshire I am biased but to me it is one of the most beautiful town centre parks I have ever been in!
Reading a sign by the entrance I learned that The Dingle had been created by The Shropshire Horticultural Society between 1875and 1879.
Subsequent generations have benefitted massively from their vision and enjoyed the fruits of their creativity and their hard work
It is a wonderful legacy to us all
On the journey away from the park and back to the hustle and bustle of the town centre I reflected on legacy
We human beings have on average 70 -80 years on this planet ,it is not a long time and if time passed slowly when I was a child ,it seems to be passing rapidly now
What is your legacy ?I am not speaking about money ,or houses or things but what will we leave to subsequent generations?
Our church hope to shortly open a new town centre building in Shrewsbury , we want it to be flexible ,attractive and accessible for today’s generation but we also hope it will be used to bless those who come after us.
But if buildings were the best legacy then Herod would be greater than Jesus for Herod built some great buildings!
However Pericles was surely right when he said “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone but what is woven into the lives of others.” By that reckoning Jesus wins hands down
Our days are short .the best legacy we can leave behind is not our possessions but the quality of our lives,the way we live
The Old Testament prophet suggests what this good life might look like
What does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Jesus said the 2 great commandments were to love God and love our neighbour .If you do that you may or may not be featured on a blue plaque or find your name in the history books, or carved in stone, but you will have left a great legacy for your family and for your community
What will you leave behind? Whether people recognise it or not; In some small way will you leave the world a better place than you found it?
That is SO true!
ReplyDelete“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone but what is woven into the lives of others.”
Great quote. Yes, as you point out rightly Charles, it fits in with what Jesus says about loving God and loving our neighbour.
Of course when someone asked who our neighbour was- Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Also we, and others, will sometimes get it wrong, get stressed out and be irritable, feel overworked and overwhelmed and handle a situation badly (I know I have, and I'd want to be forgiven as God forgives me when I confess it!!)
Others will similarly do things to hurt us. That is why an important part of loving others is forgiveness, to forgive as we are forgiven.
A great broadcast Charles!
Thank you so much for the encouragement Pauline it is deeply appreciated!
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