It has now been six months since my father-in-law, Donald Amsler passed into the presence of Jesus. It has been three weeks since his memorial service in which people from 17 states and 3 countries attended. Legacy however lasts much longer than that - legacy lasts a lifetime and usually multiple lifetimes. Legacy is not always predictable because we don't have omniscience and can't see all that is going on. However, legacy has a way of revealing itself and that is what we are just now starting to discover. My personal reflections on his death are summarized in a previous blog. This blog focuses on his legacy which is revealed primarily by others.
In the aftermath of his death, people have started to come out and tell us of the legacy of "Dr. Amsler". I refer to that because his legacy, while multi-faceted was primarily through his skilled work as a physician. The stories tend to follow something of a story-line like "I was surfing the web for Dr. Amsler and saw that he had passed and then found your blog and Facebook post..". Why were they surfing the web for Dr. Amsler? Probably because even years later, he had left a lasting legacy. Then there are the reflections which are just amazing. "He saved my life", "He delivered a problem baby", "He told me it is in God's hands".
God used the hands of a skilled doctor who loved Jesus to impact many people for him. Isn't that how it should be? As I think about it in the form a good Baptist sermon, I see three traits that he had that affected his legacy.
Competence - you can't leave a lasting legacy if you aren't competent in what you do. If you say you love the Lord and display incompetence, you will have no legacy or worse, a bad one. Excellence in what you do is a prerequisite to a lasting legacy.
Character - this refers to the man of integrity who does not compromise his beliefs. In the stories we are hearing, we constantly hear about a man who acted what he believed. He truly acted as a man who believed he was ordained in what he did. He did what was right and few challenged his morality or his integrity.
Compassion - doctors see thousands of patients in their careers. Yet Dr. Amsler treated each one like they were his only patient. He could have been a physician displaying competence and character, but not practicing empathy. What gave him a legacy is that he saw people as people and he loved them as God loved them. That is what transformed him from a good man to a great man.
As a businessman and entrepreneur, I can see those traits being critical to how I live. The traits of a lasting legacy is something we can all look at, admire, then live. As a bonus, the following observations were made by Dr. Dwight Kett, one of Dr. Amsler's partners in practice at the memorial service.
No comments:
Post a Comment