My load, My legacy.

There is something about moving to Illinois that has got me pondering the Mormon Pioneers.  While getting ready for our special pioneer dutch oven dinner tonight, I've been thinking about all those who have gone before me to pave the way.  I really can't imagine what those early pioneers had to endure: being persecuted, losing loved ones, being forced to move from place to place, bringing only that which they could tote with them, persevering through sickness, extremity of weather and temperature.  Today as I think of them and all of my other predecessors who have gotten me to this point in my life, I feel a reverence and respect.  It humbles me to think that someday I will join their ranks, what legacy will I have left?  What will great grandma Sarah be remembered for?  The load I bear may not be physical, but there is nonetheless adversity that I face.  Often times it is emotional baggage that weighs me down and causes me to falter.  But if they could face such obstacles day after day, with faith in {almost} every footstep, so can I.  I hope that my gift to my posterity (and my ancestors) will be that I never gave up, that I pressed forward every day, having faith that all was well.