I was at a memorial service this last week, filled with thoughts–much like everyone else, I’m sure. It’s one thing if it’s someone old or with a lingering illness, but this one was sudden and much too soon. A bar was in the back of the gathering place, so toasts and shots were mixed in with thoughts of what a nice guy he was, what a good dad and someone who smiled a lot and would engage in small talk at the rink…
I don’t know if I have a picture of what my funeral would look like, trying not to think of that. Trying not to imagine his wife and kids and the days that lay ahead. But I can’t shake the questions and thoughts of his life and my own. So I sit and page through my Bible to see verses of what God says a long or a short life is really all about and how He says we should spend our time, added together to make our lives.
Psalm 39:4 “O Lord, Make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!” Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
Ephesians 5:15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as the unwise or foolish or drunk, but be filled with the Spirit Luke 11:42 Don’t tithe to the tee but neglect justice and the love of God
Jeremiah 9:23 “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom or the strong man in his strength, or the rich man in his riches, but let him who boasts, boast that he knows God.”
The verses go on and so do my thoughts. In the end, it probably doesn’t even matter what my funeral looks like, it’s about what my life looked like or was really like, not even how it just looked on the surface. And it doesn’t matter what others say about me, it matters what God says about me. If I know Jesus and He knows me, I’m good. If I love God, love others, practice justice and kindness, store up my treasures in Heaven by giving instead of hoarding and impacting others for eternity, perhaps I can truly ‘Rest in peace.”
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