Four Legacies. All True. Not All Wise! Part 2 of 2

Our last article introduced three legacies. This article features the story of a woman that changed, and continues to change the lives of young expectant mothers, and their babies by her thoughtful and wise legacy

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span style="font-weight: bold;">The Widow Hears From God
A seventy year old Widow, with four grown children, all of which are financially established, and eleven grandchildren, is sitting in front of her television one evening. She lives simply and has an estate of approximately $400,000 not including her farmhouse and property.

The evening news is doing a feature on local pregnant teenagers. Her heart is moved by the plight of young expectant mothers that are choosing abortion because there is not apparent funding available to assist them carry the baby to term and then place the child for adoption. The news program closes with protestors carrying signs in front of an abortion clinic.

She thinks she should do something, but her impaired health would preclude her from carrying a sign to protest the actions inside the clinic.

In a moment of silent reflection, she believes she hears the voice of God. This has never occurred before, but she is confident of what she heard. It was not an audible voice, but yet it was a clear voice. Thinking perhaps she is having a psychotic episode she ponders carefully any rash act.

She determines to let it go for a few days, just to see if she still thinks the same thoughts after a couple of weeks. As days pass she becomes more resolved about the rightness of what she heard.

She schedules a appointment with a planning firm who assists her in defining her objectives and analyzing the asset base. A Blueprint to build her legacy dream is carefully reduced to writing. She then retains an attorney who creates a special trust reflecting her desires that accomplishes the following goals:
* She creates a college fund pool for her grandchildren. If they go to college and maintain a B average, she will pay any tuition not covered by scholarships or grants. If they don't go to college, their share goes to charity.
* She provides monthly income to maintain herself from half of the earnings from the invested savings.
* She gifts the farm house and property to her adult children retaining the right to live there while she is able to maintain independence.
* The entire remainder of her estate is to be managed in trust for the benefit of providing assistance to young expectant mothers who will choose adoption over abortion. She places her four adult children in charge of the distribution and approval process. She writes a letter to every pastor and priest in the community alerting them of the availability of these funds.
She plans a meeting to inform her adult children of her actions.

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She then has a dinner party with her children to celebrate this living legacy. Three of the four adult children think it is absolutely great. One threatens to sue to undo her planning and confirms for her, that in his mind, she certainly has had a psychotic episode. She politely listens, and gives her son the business card of the attorney that created the documentation. The son never makes the call, but does refuse to assist in administering the grants for the young girls.

SUMMARY OF HER LEGACY:
* Her grandchildren are guaranteed an opportunity to prepare for their life vocation.
* Her children, all well off in their own right, can retain the family home for their own purposes
* Every Pastor, Priest, and social worker in her community is made aware of the financial option created for young expectant mothers by this woman's generosity.
* There will be children, created by God, with a destiny and a purpose, that arrive safely into this world, for decades to come, because of her resolve to act on the voice she heard.
* She gets to actually enjoy the benefit of much of her planning during her years upon the earth.
She may expect a "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the Joy of your salvation."

When we pray about wisdom to create a thoughtful and wise legacy, we are praying in line with God's design for the administration of the temporal order. We become co-creators, and in a word, co-conspirators, with the Holy Spirit to do the works of God in our immediate family, and in our extended community family.

As you reflect over these four stories of legacies, what is applicable to your situation?

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