Recently I set out on a foggy morning to a local cemetery with the purpose of taking pictures of gravestones for an upcoming ministry project. It was an interesting trip! After several pictures, the batteries in my camera died, so I had to go back into town to buy more, and then headed back to the cemetery to resume.
Cemeteries can be very interesting. Each gravestone was chosen by people with the intention of representing the loved one who passed away. There were all shapes, sizes, and colors. One particular grouping was of a family, where the parents had the largest stone, and it was surrounded by smaller stones of their children. Some lived long; others didn't. Some symbolized their interests. Log-style crosses, and slanted crosses over Bibles. Hearts for a couple who loved each other. On my parents' stone in another cemetery is a colored picture of the family farm my Dad built. At least it used to be colorful. After a short while, the colors faded. Guess that wasn't anticipated when they bought the stone when my Mother passed away back in 1987.
On this morning I found one particular stone to be massive. There was a life-sized angel standing in front of the cross. The size made me imagine how important these people must have thought of themselves!
And then there was a mausolium, where vaults were hidden inside. I looked through the glass doors, and found bugs, and leaves, and other things lying on the marble floor. Apparently, no one had gone in to check on this in a long time. Perhaps no one is even alive now who knew these people! This must have cost the family alot of money...did they realize that many years later, no one would care?
All of this reminds me how foolish we can be. We want to be remembered after we are gone, but how are we building our legacy? Are we building up treasures on earth, to impress people, who after all, aren't really impressed? Or are we building up treasures in heaven, to make an eternal difference?
This reminds me of a song I wrote a couple of years ago, called 'What Really Matters'. My husband called it a morbid song, but our Praise Band did it in church, and one of the guys still mentions it! "Let's do the morbid song", he says! Here are the lyrics:
I read in the paper just the other day
another passed away
I didn't know him very well
only vaguely by his name
It said he had a family
was involved in many things
It seems he was a happy man
and life was good to him
But I wonder if he really knew
that life was passing by
Did he know he had a purpose
There was a reason why?
Lord, help me to do what really matters
Help me to live my life for You
Let my heart be filled with passion
To do the things I do
Lord, help me to follow after Jesus
And to walk in love and truth
To share the love You gave me
Each day a gift from You
To live my life with purpose
so others can know You
Someday my name will be there too
For everyone to see
The family that I leave behind
The things that I achieve
And when I reach the Glory Land
and bow before His feet
I hope to hear my Savior's voice
speak these words to me
Well done,my faithful servant
for you have heard my call
You lived your life for My Name's sake
and shared my love with all
Lord, help me to do what really matters
Help me to live my life for You
Let my heart be filled with passion
to do the things I do
Lord, help me to follow after Jesus
To walk in love and truth
To live my life with purpose
Each day a gift from You
To share the love You gave me
So others can know You
What will your gravestone say about you?
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