10 Benefits of Organizing Your Life and Legacy
The Motivation We Need to Get Started
Why won’t we get started with organizing our legacies?
If you’d like to listen, click here.
Do your Facebook feeds show you those ads for the NOKBox (Next of Kin box), StoryWorth, and other platforms for gathering the essential information of our lives? If they do, do you, like me, pause briefly to look, then return to scrolling, landing finally on a recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies ever? (You can really answer that question by clicking “Leave a Comment.” I’d really like to know!)
We all know we should organize our lives and legacies. We sense that we’d feel more peace in our own minds if we did do it. But we just keep procrastinating. Why? My guess is because it seems so overwhelming.
I’ve written about this before. Last year I offered some steps for getting started here.
This year, I’m going to share the top ten benefits of organizing your life and legacy. If you’d like help with this process, be sure to check out the self-paced online course offered by Kelly Markham, LCSW, and yours truly (this link takes you first to our free NYD Network, because only members there can take the course.). The course is a steal at $69, and you get ten videos to help you gather the materials along with a free 128-page workbook.
What do we gain by organizing our lives and legacies?
These are the benefits I came up with. I’d love to hear the ones you’ve experienced.
My Top Ten
1. Peace of Mind through God’s Provision
"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." (Isaiah 26:3)
Organizing our essential information gives us peace of mind. It also helps us to look to God to bring order and calm in preparation for uncertainties to come.
2. Wise Preparation
"The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty." (Proverbs 22:3)
Being organized allows us and our loved ones to respond wisely and effectively during crises. There’s nothing like an unexpected trip to the ER without a clear list of medications or a stroke that temporarily disables the one who pays the bills to make us wish we were more prepared.
3. Clear and Loving Communication
"Let all that you do be done in love." (1 Corinthians 16:14)
Sharing essential information fosters clear communication. When we communicate our wishes and leave our information, we relieve burdens from our loved ones, because they have clarity in critical times. Some of us Boomers have tried to talk to our adult children about the reality of our mortality only to hear them say, “No, mom. I don’t want to talk about it.” Other Boomers feel fear and confusion about what to say, so they avoid talking about it. It’s not an easy topic, but it sure is loving to muddle through these difficult conversations.
4. Faithful Stewardship of Finances
"Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful." (1 Corinthians 4:2)
Organizing financial information reflects faithful stewardship. It also helps us to make wise financial decisions about managing the assets God has provided. And it is the greatest gift we can give loved ones who may one day have to take over managing finances.
5. God-Honoring Health Care Planning
"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?" (1 Corinthians 6:19)
Creating an advance directive honors God by caring for the body he has entrusted to us. It also relieves our loved ones of a heavy burden when they know what type of care we desire at the end of life.
6. Intentional Estate Planning
"A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children." (Proverbs 13:22)
When we hear the word “estate,” we shouldn’t think of something out of Jane Austen. Instead, we should think of any possession God has blessed us to steward. Planning wisely for the distribution of our assets prevents conflict and ensures your resources are stewarded faithfully.
7. Providing for Loved Ones
"But if anyone does not provide for his relatives...he has denied the faith." (1 Timothy 5:8)
Organizing beneficiary information ensures that loved ones are cared for and can easily access any inheritance we might have to leave.
8. Passing Down Spiritual Legacy
"We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done." (Psalm 78:4)
Sharing our stories of faith, values, and experiences strengthens our own faith, hope, and love as well as that of future generations. If you’d like help in creating your spiritual legacy, be sure to check out my Living Story Legacy Workshop (if you’re not a member of the free NYD network, it will ask you to join before previewing), and sign up to be informed of the next workshop. (I also offer individual coaching on creating a spiritual legacy. Just message me or comment below, and I’ll be glad to tell you more.)
9. Relieving Burdens on Others
"Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2)
By organizing important information, we ease the burden on loved ones during crises, providing a tangible expression of Christ-like love. When we die, our loved ones may be expecting it, or they may be totally stunned. Either way, they will be bearing a burden of grief. We can help to carry that burden by giving clear instructions and an organized legacy.
10. Preserving a God-Glorifying Legacy
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7)
Too often, we think of this verse in only spiritual terms. While it does refer to our walk with God, there are practical implications of finishing our race well. An organized legacy is but one way to glorify God as we care for others.
If you’re convinced that this is the year to organize your life and legacy, I offer two suggestions for doing so:
1. Break it into small, doable tasks.
2. Get accountability.
For more detailed ideas, be sure to check out this article on how to start sharing your legacy.
Don’t forget, if you want more help with this process, our course is very inexpensive and according to many participants, very helpful. When you click on this link, it will ask you to join the free NYD Network if you’re not already a member. Then you will be able to see the course overview and the table of contents of the workbook.
How about you? What benefits have you seen of organizing your life and legacy?
Also, if you enjoyed this article, would you please put a heart or share it? That helps others find it! Thanks!
After I saw what a family member went through after a sudden death, I got all my affairs in order for my spouse in the event of my death. It brings such peace of mind. Your article and information is so important.