Funeral Talk

In the past 4 weeks, I have been at 4 funerals. I attended 3, and performed my very first funeral. Four funerals in as many weeks is really overwhelming, however, it has been interesting to look back over those 4 and see the similarities and differences. Each of them had a vastly different life story, and each of them had family and friends that came to remember their lives and memories.

The interesting thing about each of the funerals was the sharing and reflection time. Each funeral had a significant amount of time spent remembering the lives of each person. Some had humorous stories, some shared time spent fishing, or watching football. Other memories included funny explanations of a nickname, and some were fond memories of a favorite time shared with the individual. At the funeral that I officiated, I didn't know the lady very well who had passed away, so the sharing time was a time for me to grow the window into her life that I had no knowledge about. Each of the 4 individuals' services increased my knowledge of their lives and gave me a clearer picture of who these people were on their time on this planet.

One thing that was never shared, however, was a negative thought about someone who was upset because they "were owed $20 and were never going to see it now!" Nobody said "the world is a better place now that they aren't here to make me miserable." No one even used that time to share a juicy tidbit of gossip about the deceased that they "just had to share." No one said any negative words about anyone for those few moments gathered in a church.

Something like that makes me think of the dumb kid in Algebra who finally gets an 'A' on a test. If he can do it once, we expect it again. If we can keep thoughts positive and uplifting for an hour at a funeral service, why do we struggle so much to do it at other times? The Bible invites us to live at peace with all men; to come alongside and bear one another's burdens, and most importantly, to love one another!

If you can get a group of 150 people or so together in a room at a funeral and not one person has any unkind words to say about another person, surely, you can tame your tongue when it's just you and a few others together! Today, try to speak well of others. It's not easy, but you can do it if you really try. Just like how I passed Algebra.