My friend, Kevin Carr, posted a quote from someone that said: "When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice." This got me thinking about something that has always bothered me. I love to look at tombstones. No, don't think that I am morbid because I'm not. I like trying to figure out the story of these unknown people. What must their lives have been like? Were they happy? What did they leave behind? Where are they spending eternity? But the thing that bothers me is that most tombstones don't say much about the person. Oh sure, sometimes you will see 'loving wife' or 'devoted husband' or 'precious child' but really not a lot of information. What kind of a mark did this person leave on the world?
Over the past few years I have been collecting stories about my ancestors and writing them down. I want them to be more than a birth date, death date and name on a stone. I want my children to remember that these were real people with real lives. They hurt and cried, they laughed and rejoiced. With the advent of blogs and the internet taking the place of diaries, many people who pass on will be remembered long after they are gone. And that's wonderful but how will people remember you?
Brad had to do a funeral of a man he had never met. As is his custom, he spent many hours talking with the family to try to find out about the deceased so he could personalize the funeral service. The only things the family had to say about him was that he was stubborn all his life, he was a hermit who hated going out in public, he liked things done in a certain way and he enjoyed watching The Price Is Right. That's it! Nothing more! A life that was lived for 67 years is summed up by those four statements. How sad!
What will people remember about you? Your tombstone may not say much about you, but you can leave a lasting legacy that will be remembered for generations to come. Will the world cry when you pass into eternity? Or will they say he was stubborn and liked things done a certain way? What will you leave behind? When you pass into eternity will you be rejoicing? You can know for sure that you will be rejoicing if you have put your trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. When you pass on your family can have that peace and assurance that you are with the Lord in Heaven and that if they trust in Him as well, they will some day see you again.
In the whole scheme of things the few years that we have here on this earth are not very long. We should never 'put off' doing the things that are important. Time has a way of getting away from us. Tell your family that you love them, often. Spend time with them. Spending money on them is not as important as spending time with them. Tell them about the Salvation that is free to all. Tell them the important things. Leave a legacy behind that matters.
Post a Comment