The Tombstone

I like questions. I always have. I particularly like questions that help me understand someone at a deeper level. One of the questions that is a good one albeit very difficult to answer is,"What would you like written on your tombstone"? I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK...one of my favorites. But I would want my tombstone to do more than make someone laugh. An epitaph is a legacy of sorts. It is not just how I want to be remembered, it is also a description of what I want my life to be about now. I think that is why it is such a difficult question. But it is a question I really want to wrestle with because it can help me with decisions now. I just read a great epitaph. Ruth Bell Graham, Billy Graham's recently deceased wife, suggested an epitaph for herself. It read,"END OF CONSTRUCTION, THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE". I love that because there is not just a sense of her understanding of what God had been doing in her throughout her life but also a deep sense of humility. I used to think I wanted my tombstone to read,"HE BROUGHT GOD UP CLOSE". But I think that is too much about me oddly enough. I think now I want mine to read,"THE LOVE OF GOD FINALLY BROKE HIM,REMADE HIM AND BROUGHT HIM HOME". I guess it will need to be a big stone. Think about how you want to be remembered. Some day someone will have a chisel and a hammer, a piece of rock and a memory of you. How do you want that to end? For me, there has been nothing better than trying to finally let the love of God flow through like a mighty river and completely undo me and then realize that what the river left was better than what it took away. May you live the rest of today with the end in sight and may the end be better than today.