"The Dash"

“The Dash”

 

During my ministry I’ve participated in about 260 funerals, many of which were followed by graveside services in a number of different cemeteries. As I wait for the Funeral Director to finish with his responsibilities I like to walk among the headstones to look for familiar names and interesting epitaphs. As I do so I can’t help wondering what these people were like and how they’re remembered by those who knew them.

Most monuments include the years of birth and death separated by a dash. That mark represents the person’s life, some brief and others lengthy by human standards. In that small space are tucked the qualities and events which made that person who he or she was. And often the epitaph on the stone reflects it in a few words. Examples include “He died climbing” for a man who fell from a peak in the Alps; “A servant of God” for a faithful believer; “Safe in his Father’s arms” for a child. All simple but meaningful.

In Mark 14 a woman was criticized by onlookers for “wasting” expensive perfume by pouring it on Jesus’ head. As He often did, our Savior confronted the faultfinders and defended this woman for her act of love by saying, “She did what she could.” (Verse 8). In other words, she honored her Master in the best way possible for her.

What will the dash of my life say? That’s the epitaph I’m writing day by day. I pray it’ll be, in the words of Jesus, “He did what he could.”

 

Blessings!

Jim McMillan