There’s a scene in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes when Evelyn visits her old friend, Mrs. Threadgoode on her birthday. They end up talking about death and Evelyn admits how it scares her. Mrs. Threadgoode says she isn’t scared to die.
I think a lot about death, specifically, my own. Perhaps you think that is morbid and depressing, but I don’t.
It doesn’t make me sad or depressed. I actually look forward to the end most days.
I’m not saying there is no fear involved. We are always afraid of what we do not know. What I am saying is there is trust involved. I trust the One who will meet me there with all my ‘cloud of witnesses’ and take me home.
In thinking about death, I often wonder what people will say or think about me. I know some will remember a time or several times when I wasn’t at my best and made mistakes, both in action and words. But I also hope there will be those whose lives I’ve touched for the better, even if it’s just a small, tiny sweet memory.
There’s a poem perhaps you’ve heard called The Dash. On tombstones we put a birthdate and a death date. In between is a dash. The gist of the poem is not the birth or death date but what you do in the dash.
“For it matters not how much we own…the cars, the house, the cash. What matters most is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.”
How are you spending your dash?
