What Shall We say at Your Funeral?

I think an important exercise is to consider what you would want said at your funeral. It is an event people will be attending soon and there should be something good to be said. I do know a few people that may have something to say at mine as they kick the dirt in the hole, but if you aren't upsetting a few people in life, you are probably not doing much.

What you want said at your funeral helps you set goals, priorities, and should determine how you spend the short time you’ve been given.

This is a difficult task. First, for some it is difficult considering your mortality, and second, if you articulate your ideas you feel more bound to the hard work of living it out.

What you wish to be said - may never get said, but that should not stop your commitment to what you would want the words to be and that you would have them to be true.

Consider what you would have heard by your spouse, children, grand-children and friends. Share it with them so they know your goal and may help you achieve it. It might make for an interesting topic for all at the Thanksgiving table.

I decided to work through this process. Mine is short, but full of obligation and is found through the comments shared about others posthumously. I found my direction from the words of Bessie Anderson Stanley and Phillip Hughs who wrote of Jacques Lefevere.

I post it so you may hold me to it in my actions. Call me out when I fall short. Guide me where you see needed so it may ring true at my funeral. May it be said of me when I no longer dwell here:

“His trust was in Christ alone. He, laughed often, and loved much; enjoyed the trust of a pure woman, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children. He filled his niche and accomplished his task. He left the world better than he found it - with a perfect poem and rescued souls. He never lacked appreciation of Earth's beauty or failed to express it. He always looked for the best in others and gave them the best he had. He was his own man. Selflessly dedicated to the pursuit of authenticity. Willing to abandon familiar and long traveled paths when he saw they were leading in the wrong direction. Earnest in his appropriation of the truth as it was discovered, and zealous in communicating it to others.“

I know - I've got a lot of work to do...

In hope, Don