An Epitaph

Sunday morning, a woman who I never had the pleasure of meeting breathed her last breath on this earth. Annelle Comer is someone who I have heard a lot about, especially over the past week. She wasn't famous by any means. A simple woman who loved God, her husband, and her children. She had 5 bypass heart surgery on June 3...the first day that Alan and I attended services at Vestavia church of Christ. She was the wife of one of the elders/preachers there. I've only seen one picture of her, but I have heard many stories about her that have touched my heart. Annelle struggled with a long recovery in the hospital these past three months and she was on and off the ventilator. Last week, with her husband Harold, she decided not to go back on again. She was facing dialysis (which she has also had to have on and off the past three months) and just never being the same again. Harold went and sat with her around 6:30 AM on Sunday and she went to sleep around 10 AM.

On Wednesday night, one of the elders encouraged all of the young women of the congregation to make a decision to live a life like Annelle...to be a strong Christian example like she was and to use talents to encourage and uplift others. In our Wednesday class, Jason asked us to strongly think about two questions. #1: How do I want to be remembered? #2: What am I doing about it?

#1: How do I want to be remembered?
I want to be remembered as someone who sought to live after Christ, someone whose heart was "after God's own heart." I would like to live so that I could be called a handmaiden of the Lord, like Mary was (Luke 1:38). I want to be remembered as having a meek and quiet spirit, as a woman who loved her husband and respected him the way the Bible commands. I want people to remember me as someone who did whatever she could to help those in need and who sought diligently to teach others about God's Word. I want people to remember my kindness and gentleness. I want my children to be thankful to have had me as a mother. When people remember me, I want them to immediately think of Christ and His love.

#2: What am I doing about it?
I have resolved to live my life in a way so that all of things might truly be said about me at the end of my life.

I think past these two questions, there is also a third and important question. Why do I want to be remembered this way? I want to be remembered this way, not because I want people to remember me as a great person, but because I want to get to Heaven. I want to spend eternity in the presence of Christ's eternal glory!

Thinking about these questions has generated lots of pondering for me. I've been thinking more about even the smallest decisions. For instance, what does it matter how I dress if that's all that people remember about me? I'm not insinuating that it's wrong to dress in a stylish manner (as long as it's also modest). I'm just trying to consider more why I want to dress stylishly... why I want to have nicer things... why I care what others think.