Posts
Tuesday, August 7
If you read my last post, Hold Onto Your Fork...The Best is Yet to Be, then you know about
the fork I hung on the refrigerator with a red ribbon. (You can read it here if
you missed it.)
In a comment on that post, my friend Carol said that she had
heard the same story, but the version she heard ended with the man being buried
with the fork in his hand. I don’t remember if the version I heard had that
ending or not. Too long ago.
It didn’t occur to me until I read Carol’s comment that I
should have included something I told my husband. I told him that I wanted to
be buried holding onto that beribboned fork.
I mentioned that to Carol in my comment back to her which triggered
one of those idea bulbs: what else do I wish to have buried with me?
Is it another object, like the fork? Or is it something more
intangible, like the good thoughts of others? If that’s the case, then how did
they see my life?
I made this little image and have it on my site (if you’re
reading this by email):
So, am I living a parrot
life? Will I be buried with others’ whispers of animosity or words of a life
well-lived?
A couple of years ago, I wrote another post called Dash Days: Wasted or Worthwhile? I wrote about that dash between the dates on one’s gravestone. In part, I wrote
this:
Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians
is also for us. He pointed out that their “daily lives should not embarrass God
but bring joy to Him Who invited you into His Kingdom to share His glory.” (1
Thess. 2:12 TLB)
How, then, do we make the right
decisions to honor the Lord within us? What will keep us within His safe
borders? The answer? Knowing the Lord, staying rooted in His Word, and trusting
Him to help us make the right choices.
Scripture tells us how to make our days
worthwhile through the words of Solomon, “I, Wisdom, will make the hours of
your day more profitable and the years of your life more fruitful” (Prov. 9:11
TLB), and Isaiah, “I shall walk carefully all my years.” (Is. 38:15b NKJV)...
The effects of the decisions you make
in your lifetime leave telltale signs of your character, and that is what
people will remember about your dash days.
That thought prompts this thought: How do I live my life
now? What does my life say to others? What telltale memories will I be buried with?
Will others remember me as selfish or selfless? Loving or unloving? Honoring
God or honoring self?
Paul told the Ephesians how to live, “So live as people of
light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and
true.” (Eph. 5:8b-9 NLT)
He also told the Colossians to “walk worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the
knowledge of God.” (Col. 1:10 NKJV)
I know I fail at times but that verse is my life’s goal. May
it be your life’s goal as well.
* What is your life’s
goal?
* Are you living a parrot life?
* What memories do
you wish to be buried with?
*Twenty more posts to go!
**Today, I’m hooking up with
the monthly blog chain through Christianwriters.com on the topic of “memory.”
Check out the rest of the great posts by the chain gang in the right sidebar.
