As I author these words, I am knee-deep in preparing remarks and a homily for a funeral that will occur this Saturday. Although this service will indeed be a celebration of life, and I am convinced there will be much joy to be experienced; funerals and preparations for funerals are very sobering moments for me.
It is in these moments that the numbness of this existence and the perfunctory-ness of our lives is torn away and the realization that we are indeed alive takes center stage. Ironic, but death screams, “Hey, you’re alive!”
The Psalmist writes in Song #90 verse 12:
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
Some might read those words with some sense of morbidity and kick against the notion that we should count our days. I don’t see the Psalmist intimating this exhortation in a morbid sense. Rather, I see him exclaiming, “Hey, you’ve only got a certain number of days in this existence—make the most of them—be alive!”
This verse is a “cause and effect” verse. If you do “A,” you get “B.” If we live in the realization that one day we will certainly die, we are motivated to treasure the moments, and in treasuring the moments, our actions are more thoughtful, purposeful, and inspired. I know some very wise people and if I had to define what I witness in their existence I would have to say that they live thoughtfully and with purpose and seemed to be inspired in most everything thing they do.
At one point in scripture, we are told that we have seventy-some-odd-years-of-days on this planet. So, if I’m counting my days, I better get to living more fully quickly—’cause I don’t have that many years left. Again, I don’t say that in a morbid way; I say that in an exhilarating way. That means be in the moment; be here now; be fully present. Enjoy good food and great conversation. Hold the hands you hold a little tighter and little longer. Say what needs to be said. Sing a little louder; dancer a little more expressively; give a little more generously.
I’ve said it over and over; Christ did not come to show us how to be divine. Christ came to show us how to live life more fully.
As I write remarks about the person we will memorialize and celebrate this Saturday, I am keenly aware that she did indeed have a “wise heart.” And, let me add, even when life handed her a bag full of troubles and sufferings; she persevered, reinvented herself and lived life fully, thoughtfully and purposefully.
And dear friends, that is inspiring.