My response was immediate when a friend questioned the prudence of one of my decisions. Without much thought, I blurted out, “Ask me in a hundred years.”  

Some of life’s decisions are uncomplicated.  Yet life has taught me that many others, the kind that reverberate for generations, are not always so readily or easily decided.  I’ve also realized it may take decades, yea generations, to know the full impact of a decision made today.

Pondering my spontaneous reply, I could not help but reflect on how many decisions like this I have made over the past seven decades.  While poetry has never been my thing, I felt compelled to take note of these thoughts as they rattled through my heart.  So it was that the words below came forth as I pondered what the answers might be a century from now.

Ask Me in a Hundred Years

I’ve been musing of late,
Of the footprints I’ve made.
Whether or not their legacy,
Will soon wither and fade.

As my journey nears its end,
The Living Word steadies this sail.
Will my faithfulness for generations
Blaze a worthy trail?

Ask me in a hundred years
What it was I sought to do.
To act justly and love mercy,
To humbly walk on through.

Ask me in a hundred years
When my earthly race is done.
Prayerfully having faced my fears,
If faith and love had won.

Ask me in a hundred years
If mortal acts without measure,
Were worthy of my pleading tears
And sacrifice of time and treasure.

Ask me in a hundred years
And I shall know of the seeds I’ve sown.
The joy of a blessed heritage,
Or the agony of a lifetime blown.

Yes, ask me in a hundred years
As heaven’s light gives faith its sight,
When time has etched in stone my steps,
Did my life lead others to the Light?

Deuteronomy 4:9

“Only take heed, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children—  (RSV)