Solemn Sunday

2/22/09 Assignment: Obituary
When you’ve attended 3 “final events,” in a week’s time, that include a memorial service, a graveside service, and a visitation, for three different people, you have reason to pause and reflect. On the stone markings of the grave are reminders of three things, two of which we have absolutely no control over.

One of the people, who passed away will have a headstone that will read 1946-2009. She was born in 1946, as was I, and many of my Hopkinsville High School pals. She had no control over that birth date nor the day which she died………….but God---“ for Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb………..Thy eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book were written all the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” (Psalm 139 13-16) What she and the other 2 women, whose services I attended, had control over----just as you and I do, is the dash between those 2 dates.

This is not a new thought with me---sermons have been preached for years on this topic, I’m sure. We might not control our birth and death but we certainly have control over the choices we make in between those pre-ordained times. 

How about you? Are you making the right choices in “your dash”---the only part of your life that you are responsible for. Who are you “dancing” with? What kind of legacy are you leaving? That’s your obituary---the one that will be written on the hearts of people who matter in your life.

Micah 5:8 is a reminder for me. “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”