I often don’t think about what will happen when I’m gone. I don’t think about the “legacy” I might be leaving. But, every once in a while, it flutters through my mind, and I think, “What will people say about me when I’m gone?” or “Did I do enough in this life to make an impact on someone, somewhere?” I look at those of my relatives that have already passed on, and I only have good thoughts. I do not think of the mistakes they made, or my bad experiences I may have had with them, but I think of the good examples they were, and the road they paved for me in my life. They make me proud of my name.
I loved the talk by Mervyn B. Arnold Of the Seventy titled, “What Have You Done With My Name?” He spoke about how we make covenants when we are baptized to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ, and we will be held accountable for what we did with His name. Do we think about that in our everyday life? Possibly. But, probably not as often as we should.
He told one story that really stood out to me. He talked about how his wife learned a valuable lesson as a teenager about the choices we make. When she was 15, she worked on the family ranch. A cow that she was supposed to be in charge of broke through their fence and grazed on the wheat just beyond the fence. Cows are not supposed to eat wheat because it can bloat in their bellies and cause them to die. This is exactly what happened to this cow. It struck his wife, at such a young age, that this cow had a beautiful place to graze and eat where it was safe, and had it stayed within that fence, he would have been fine. But, instead, by breaking through that fence, he ultimately lost his life.
He made an analogy to our own lives and the rules and boundaries that we have. He talked about how the adversary wants us to think those rules are there to restrict us, when in reality, they are there to keep us safe. As an adult, it is easy for us to see this correlation, yet sometimes, we may still question it in our lives. We may still look at marriage as a restriction to keep us from enjoying life to the fullest. Or, we may look at the word of wisdom the same way. Maybe we think tithing does nothing but make us struggle. But, ultimately, Heavenly Father is helping us do something good with the name of Jesus Christ.
I hope that one day my children, and my grandchildren, and so on will think that I did something good with my earthly name. But, more importantly, I hope my Heavenly Father and my posterity know that I did something wonderful with Christ’s name.
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