WHAT DO YOU WANT ON YOUR TOMBSTONE?
Valerie Rae Hanneman
August 20, 2004
2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (NIV)
I love pizza. I love pizza that gets delivered, I like pizza that I eat in the pizzeria, and I even like the frozen pizza’s you get in the store and bake yourself. My favorite frozen pizza is the Tombstone brand. I am not sure if I like it because it is better than the other brands - or if it is because I really got a giggle out of the commercials they used to run. Do you remember them? There one that sticks most in my mind is the one where the guy is facing a firing squad and he refuses the last cigarette and the blindfold, then the general asks him, “And what do you want on your tombstone?” The guy thinks for a moment and then say “Pepperoni!” I don’t know why I liked those commercials so much - my daughter thought I had taken leave of my senses when I would laugh at them.
Have you ever thought of that question though - outside of pizza? What do you want on your tombstone? Some people get pretty creative when it comes to words on a tombstone. Some of them are pretty funny “Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m pushing up daisies, someday you will too.” Some of them are pretty mater-of-fact with just a name and a date. Some of them touch on good aspects of the deceased’s life, “Good Wife and Mother” “Outstanding Father” “Community Leader” and some of them touch on other aspects. I was in Arizona one summer and saw a tombstone that read “Meaner than a snake.” I think the saddest one I ever saw was in San Felipe, Mexico while I was there on a mission trip. It had the man’s name - then one simple word - “drogas” - drugs. You were left to wonder if his addiction killed him or did drug trafficking kill him? But regardless of which it was - his legacy on his tombstone was that of another broken life.
When Paul wrote this to Timothy he was in a Roman prison and Paul knew that it was close to the end of his life. Paul looked back at his life in Christ, and wrote to Timothy “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” That was the legacy that he wanted people to remember about him. And 2,000 years later we still know that Paul fought the good fight, he finished the race, he kept the faith.
What do you want them to remember about you? What do you want on your tombstone that will tell generations to come who you were? Do you want to be remembered as a good father? Good mother? Faithful servant of Christ? If I were going to have a tombstone I think that I would like it to say “She loves God, She loves her family. Not always perfectly, but always enthusiastically.”
Here comes the hard question - what would other people put on your tombstone? Would the people at your workplace write about your ambition to succeed at all cost - or your love of Jesus? Would they write that you were the same on Monday as you were on Sonday? Would your family write about the long hours you worked - or your involvement with them? Would they tell of how you showed them the love of Jesus or the love of money? Will your church family write about a Sonday-morning-go-to-meeting Christian, or an involved Christian example? A pew-potato or a servant of Christ?
I know how I like to see myself and I know the legacy that I would like to leave behind. But I wonder sometimes - is the legacy that I think I am leaving behind the legacy that I am leaving behind? Would others write on my tombstone the same thing that I would?
Sometimes I don’t think that they would.
If I want to leave a legacy behind that others in my life will agree with then I need to start living my legacy now. If I want my legacy to be “She loves God, She loves her family. Not always perfectly but always enthusiastically.” Then I need to live that way today so that it will be what people remember about me tomorrow.
First, I need to love God at my job, with my family and in my church family. I need to show my love for God in all that I do. Second, I have to love my family. I have to love them on my job, I have to love them when I am with them, and I have to love them when we are with our church family. I have to make sure that my love for them is part of everything I do. And last - “not always perfectly but always enthusiastically.” I wish that I could love God and my family perfectly - but there is a catch in that wish. I am imperfect - as my children will gladly tell you. I cannot love perfectly - yet - but I can love God and my family enthusiastically. I can give my love for them everything I have got.
I am going to live my legacy now so that when I finally leap joyously through the shadow of death and into by God’s presence I will hear Him say, “Well done you good and faithful servant.” And if I take the time to look back to the earth, I will hear those I worked with, my family and my church family say, “That Valerie! She loved God, she loved her family. Not always perfectly - but always enthusiastically!”
What legacy are you working towards?
Holy Jesus, help us to live our lives and leave a legacy of love and service to You first of all. May our lives so clearly show Your presence that when we join You those who we leave behind will always remember Your presence in our lives.
Contact Valerie at valerie@fresnofirst.org
Posted by Valerie at August 19, 2004 10:49 PM