Maybe it’s because I just got over a kick-you-in-your-behind illness, or maybe it’s because I’m officially a woman of a certain age, but I think about things like what people will say about me at my memorial service. (FYI, I’ve asked that Alison Krauss’ “Everyone Wants to Go to Heaven (But Nobody Wants to Die)” be played at my funeral. If you’re there, please feel free to sing, dance or laugh.)
Here’s what I don’t want to be said:
“She looked just like Snow White.”
“She had a funny laugh.”
“I’ll always remember her for only wearing flats.”
“She sure liked to wear bright colors.”
“She was always so nice.”
A hundred years from now, it won’t matter in the least that people think I look like Snow White or that I laugh funny or that I have a peculiar addiction to Mary Janes or that I’m always the brightest one in the crowd. Who cares?
I don’t want to be remembered for any of those things. I want to be remembered as that Jesus lady. We had one of those in the Cleveland suburb where I spent my formative years. As long as I could remember, her impeccably maintained garden bed spelled out “Jesus Saves.” People made fun of her. I made fun of her. But thousands of people drove by her house every day, year after year. And year after year, she proclaimed Jesus. She was that Jesus lady. She and her message are inseparable in people’s memory, just as with the woman with the alabaster jar who anointed Jesus with costly perfume.
“I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” – Matthew 26:13
The Jesus lady left a legacy. The woman with the alabaster jar left a legacy. Their legacy, like that of Enoch’s, was one of walking with God. Enoch lived so righteously before God that God spared him death, instead supernaturally teleporting Enoch directly to heaven.
Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
– Genesis 5:24
All I can say is it must have made for an interesting memorial service.
Enoch invested himself in what mattered most to him. That’s true of all of us. Think about the ways you spend your time and money.
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. – Matthew 6:21
Now think about what most excites you. What is your hot button – the topic that always gets you involved in the conversation? Is it sports, money, politics, technology, entertainment, fashion, news? Well, here’s a reality check: The things that get your heart pumping and that tick away your time are the things for which people will most remember you.
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:14
I admit to squandering my share of time and, probably, my share of money as well. But the thing that compels me most is Jesus. That makes me unpopular sometimes, and I’m okay with that. But I recognize that my work in the Lord is the one thing that will endure beyond this life.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be show for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. – 1 Corinthians 3:
Here’s what I want to be said at my memorial service:
“She was faithful to Jesus to the end.” (It can be a short service. That gives people more time to eat and hang out afterward.)
So what are you living for? And what will be your legacy? No matter how young you are, it’s not too soon to think about that. And no matter how old you are, it’s not too late.
By the way, I bought heels.
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