She was 101 years old…
Today I had the honor of being a pallbearer for my wife’s great-grandmother. She was 101 years old! To say that she had lived a full life is an understatement. Anyway, back to the funeral….
Plenty of people were there. Some were crying. Some laughing. Some just casually carrying on conversations. Me? I was listening. It’s what I do best when I’m around a lot of people I don’t know. What I heard was the same that I hear at every funeral I have ever attended. Nothing but the good stuff.
Everyone spoke about how nice a person she was, or how well she kept her house in order, or how they remembered the things she cooked. Nobody said anything negative. (At least not that I heard.) The point is; no one wants to remember the hard things. Nope! Everything was perfect in their life. At least that’s the image they want you to see.
I’m not saying that the person was a bad person, but everybody has faults. It’s just the hard truth. However, it got me thinking…
If we want our loved ones to only bring up the good in our lives, or the happy moments, and never talk about the rough stuff… shouldn’t we be living in such a manner to give them plenty to talk about!? Shouldn’t we be so full and overflowing with the love of Jesus that they don’t even care how we look laid out in that casket or what type of flowers were sent!? Shouldn’t they spend days or weeks or even months talking about the way we always had a smile, even when things were hard!? Or how we always found a way to make everyone laugh, even in the most serious of moments!? Or most importantly how we never failed to share the love of Jesus and sought forgiveness where we needed to be forgiven and gave it where we needed to give it!?
That’s the legacy I want to leave behind!
As the old gospel song goes…
Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
Jesus washed it white as snow
Live life like you love Jesus, because He first loved you! When you share that love with others, you leave a legacy that will cause the conversations to never stop! Not because of what you’ve done, but for what He has done through you!
That’s what I learn at funerals.
