“What will others say about you when your life on earth is over?”
I know I’ve posed this question before, but two recent events have me pondering it again.
Last night Cole had a couple of buddies stay the night.  Before I headed to bed, I peeked in the boys’ room and said, “I may not be here when you boys finally wake up in the morning.  I will be going to a funeral.”
One boy replied, “Mrs. Shuff, the last time I stayed the night you were going to a funeral too.”
Yep, this has been a record year for funeral attending for me.
This week I had two “Celebrations of Life” to attend.  My great uncle Nathan Hunter (81 years young), and my second cousin (Nathan’s “older” nephew), Donald Davis (83 years young) are now healed, walking the streets of gold, and seeing God face-to-face.
During the eulogies for these men, it was said that both were great men and men of God. Bless the pastor’s heart, the same pastor performed both services and to almost the same crowd. At each service he said, “Nathan/Donald was a great, great man.”  He noted that they had their shortcomings, but in the end loved God and lived for Him.
Shortcomings?  Yes siree. We all have them.  The bible says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  That includes you, me, Uncle Nathan, and Donald. But the awesome thing is that even though we all have sinned… “Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. ²⁵ For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,²⁶ for He was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He declares sinners to be right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.”  GLORY!
At the “Celebrations of Life”, family members would stand up to tell remembrance stories of their loved one who had passed.  As I listened to these stories, smiles, tears, and my own remembrances of them would come to mind.  I also felt like I got to know these gentlemen on a more personal level.
Those recollections made me wonder what would my family and friends say about me.  Am I building lasting memories, sharing family traditions, sharing Jesus with them enough, etc.?
In the end, that latter ponder (sharing Jesus) is the most important.  It doesn’t matter that amount of friends/acquaintances we accumulated, the plethora of “toys” we had, if we were a “who’s who” in whatever life status we held, what truly matters is our service to God.  Whatever we do in life, we are to bring glory to God, through our words and actions.
Oh what will others say?  Will I be missed?  Did I leave a lasting impression?  Did I laugh enough?  Yikes!  Enough with the questions.  It’s time to get busy making memories and making a difference for Jesus.
I do know one thing, when it is my time to go, I want to hear God say, “Come on in, girl! I’ve been waiting to dance with you.” (Whoever said Baptists don’t dance?  This girl does.)
I pray God’s abundant love and blessings for y’all.

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