The Dash
I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning...to the end.
He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents all the time that they spent alive on earth. And now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own, the cars...the house...the cash. What matter is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.
So, think about this long and hard. Are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real and always try to understand the way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile, remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read, with your life's actions to rehash....would you be proud of the things they say about how you spend YOUR dash? ~ by Linda Ellis copyright 1996
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From Our Daily Bread
SHOUT HALLELUJAH!
A few days ago, I spied my old friend Bob vigorously pedaling a bike at our neighborhood gym and staring down at a blood pressure monitor on his finger.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Looking t see if I'm alive," he grunted
"What would you do if you saw you were dead?" I countered.
"Shout hallelujah!" he replied with a radiant smile.
Over the years I've caught glimpses of great inner strength in Bob: patient endurance in the face of physical decline and discomfort and faith and hope as he approaches the end of his life journey. Indeed he has found not only hope, but death has lost its power to tyrannize him.
Who can find peace and hope - and even joy - in dying? Only those who are joined by faith to the God of eternity and who know that they have eternal life (1 Cor. 15:52,54). For those who have this assurance, like my friend Bob, death has lost its terror. They can speak with colossal joy of seeing Christ face to face!
Why be afraid of death? Why not rejoice? As the poet John Donne (1572-1631) wrote, One short sleep past, we wake eternally."
For the Christian, dying is the last shadow of earth's night before heaven's dawn.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The past is history, it is filled with what if's. The future is a mystery that offers no guarantees. All you have is the moment and it passes in a blink of an eye...
I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning...to the end.
He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents all the time that they spent alive on earth. And now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own, the cars...the house...the cash. What matter is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.
So, think about this long and hard. Are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real and always try to understand the way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile, remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read, with your life's actions to rehash....would you be proud of the things they say about how you spend YOUR dash? ~ by Linda Ellis copyright 1996
___________________________________________________________
From Our Daily Bread
SHOUT HALLELUJAH!
A few days ago, I spied my old friend Bob vigorously pedaling a bike at our neighborhood gym and staring down at a blood pressure monitor on his finger.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Looking t see if I'm alive," he grunted
"What would you do if you saw you were dead?" I countered.
"Shout hallelujah!" he replied with a radiant smile.
Over the years I've caught glimpses of great inner strength in Bob: patient endurance in the face of physical decline and discomfort and faith and hope as he approaches the end of his life journey. Indeed he has found not only hope, but death has lost its power to tyrannize him.
Who can find peace and hope - and even joy - in dying? Only those who are joined by faith to the God of eternity and who know that they have eternal life (1 Cor. 15:52,54). For those who have this assurance, like my friend Bob, death has lost its terror. They can speak with colossal joy of seeing Christ face to face!
Why be afraid of death? Why not rejoice? As the poet John Donne (1572-1631) wrote, One short sleep past, we wake eternally."
For the Christian, dying is the last shadow of earth's night before heaven's dawn.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The past is history, it is filled with what if's. The future is a mystery that offers no guarantees. All you have is the moment and it passes in a blink of an eye...
The Dash
I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning...to the end.
He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents all the time that they spent alive on earth. And now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own, the cars...the house...the cash. What matter is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.
So, think about this long and hard. Are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real and always try to understand the way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile, remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read, with your life's actions to rehash....would you be proud of the things they say about how you spend YOUR dash? ~ by Linda Ellis copyright 1996
___________________________________________________________
From Our Daily Bread
SHOUT HALLELUJAH!
A few days ago, I spied my old friend Bob vigorously pedaling a bike at our neighborhood gym and staring down at a blood pressure monitor on his finger.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Looking t see if I'm alive," he grunted
"What would you do if you saw you were dead?" I countered.
"Shout hallelujah!" he replied with a radiant smile.
Over the years I've caught glimpses of great inner strength in Bob: patient endurance in the face of physical decline and discomfort and faith and hope as he approaches the end of his life journey. Indeed he has found not only hope, but death has lost its power to tyrannize him.
Who can find peace and hope - and even joy - in dying? Only those who are joined by faith to the God of eternity and who know that they have eternal life (1 Cor. 15:52,54). For those who have this assurance, like my friend Bob, death has lost its terror. They can speak with colossal joy of seeing Christ face to face!
Why be afraid of death? Why not rejoice? As the poet John Donne (1572-1631) wrote, One short sleep past, we wake eternally."
For the Christian, dying is the last shadow of earth's night before heaven's dawn.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The past is history, it is filled with what if's. The future is a mystery that offers no guarantees. All you have is the moment and it passes in a blink of an eye...
I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning...to the end.
He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents all the time that they spent alive on earth. And now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own, the cars...the house...the cash. What matter is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.
So, think about this long and hard. Are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real and always try to understand the way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile, remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read, with your life's actions to rehash....would you be proud of the things they say about how you spend YOUR dash? ~ by Linda Ellis copyright 1996
___________________________________________________________
From Our Daily Bread
SHOUT HALLELUJAH!
A few days ago, I spied my old friend Bob vigorously pedaling a bike at our neighborhood gym and staring down at a blood pressure monitor on his finger.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Looking t see if I'm alive," he grunted
"What would you do if you saw you were dead?" I countered.
"Shout hallelujah!" he replied with a radiant smile.
Over the years I've caught glimpses of great inner strength in Bob: patient endurance in the face of physical decline and discomfort and faith and hope as he approaches the end of his life journey. Indeed he has found not only hope, but death has lost its power to tyrannize him.
Who can find peace and hope - and even joy - in dying? Only those who are joined by faith to the God of eternity and who know that they have eternal life (1 Cor. 15:52,54). For those who have this assurance, like my friend Bob, death has lost its terror. They can speak with colossal joy of seeing Christ face to face!
Why be afraid of death? Why not rejoice? As the poet John Donne (1572-1631) wrote, One short sleep past, we wake eternally."
For the Christian, dying is the last shadow of earth's night before heaven's dawn.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The past is history, it is filled with what if's. The future is a mystery that offers no guarantees. All you have is the moment and it passes in a blink of an eye...
