When You Remember Me

When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again you will know me. It means that even after I die you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.    – Frederick Buechner

This morning I officiated at a Memorial Service for a kind and gracious man whose favorite song was Let It Be. He was not a church goer. I never asked why. I had only met him a handful of times, but his wife worked with me for a number of years as our church secretary. “The best job she ever had.” She said. So, this was their church too which is the way it should be.

As a part of the service, I wrote this:

Maybe I am just getting old which means my own mortality comes more into focus, but I think moments like this have a way of sharpening for us what is important in our lives.
What you value.
How you want to live each day with the days you have remaining to you.
How you chose to treat others.
How you will approach the work which is yours to do.|
How you would like to be remembered when, as a mentor and friend of mine would say:
When everyone comes back from the cemetery except me.

So apart from what you remember about who Robert was, maybe who he was can serve as a reminder of who you want to be. And so I wonder, when you walk out these doors towards whatever the rest of today and tomorrow has in store for you, what choices will you make for how you will live and how you would like to be remembered?

Here are some questions to start your thinking:

• Through the witness of your life will others catch a glimpse of hope and honesty and integrity. The best of who human beings can be with and towards one another?
• Will the other, whoever that other is, gain a sense of respect because of you and through you?
• Because of who you are and what you do will heaven come just a bit closer not just for you, but for others as well.

Only you can answer those questions for your own life.
And, the truth is, whether you do so consciously or not,
You answer those questions anew each and every day.

Years ago I saw a bumper sticker which read:
Live so the preacher won’t have to lie at your funeral.
I don’t know about you, but knowing that someday I am going to be there and not here I would rather have, whoever it is who is standing where I am now, be able to tell the truth.
What about you?