The Epitaph
Listening to Dr. David Jeremiah on a recent Turning Point Podcast, he shared his admittedly morbid fascination with epitaphs. It’s interesting to see the story that lies behind the dash on that stone – kind of speaks a lot about a person, in terms of how people are really remembered. On a lighter note, Dr. Jeremiah spoke of one in particular – Les Moore. His epitaph read, “Here lies Les Moore: No Les, No Moore.” No way!
I hope that comes out at least half as funny on paper as it did on audio! I kept repeating it out loud…No Les, No Moore…still funny. But sad.
It begs the point: What would we want our dash to mean?
Because, after all, we’re living it out now, only to have it fleshed out in how people remember us. Kind of impresses how much the present really matters in terms of the difference we make, which is generally how we’re remembered.
In Covey’s famous 7 Habits, Habit 2 is “Begin with the end in mind.” It’s all about mission thinking – How do we live now to establish clearly how we want to be remembered? Here are a few questions that might get you into mission thinking mode:
Think of a person who has made a positive influence in your life. What qualities does that person have that you would like to develop?
What are your natural talents and gifts?
Imagine it is 20 years from now and you are surrounded by the most important people in your life. Who are they and what are you doing?
What are the things in your personal life that make life worth living?
What are the things in your work life that make life worth living?
What are the five things that you value most?
Mission thinking is a present day approach to our future epitaph.
For Les, I sure hope there is more!