I had a sobering moment this week!  Let me set it up for you.

In Psalm 90:12 it is written, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” It is then written in Ecc 7:1-2, “The day of death (is better) than the day of birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” It is also written in Psalm 139:16, “In Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me (birth and death), when as yet there was none of them.”

Then I know Paul wrote, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” In the same context he said if he could choose, he’d rather be with Jesus than go on living in the body.

I get it that this life is not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us once we pass from this life to the next where Jesus is.  Still… I think I’m like most other people, thinking about the day my life ends isn’t one of my favorite thought experiments.  Now for the sobering moment…

My mom purchased the headstone for her grave this week.  My wife and I will be buried close by and our headstone is on the reverse of my mom’s.  Once we chose what we wanted, the funeral director printed out what it would look like… and then I had my sobering moment… I saw my tombstone…!

Seeing my name and that of my wife… ON A TOMBSTONE… made me remember that day IS coming.  Sooner or later, unless Jesus comes back first, I will die (And so will you).  It was then that certain passages started taking on a new meaning (See above).  In short… seeing my tombstone weirded me out briefly.

The Puritans had a saying intended to encourage living life to it fullest with joy each day… “Remember death.”  It’s coming… so live life with an eye to eternity.  It’s coming… so don’t leave anything undone.  It’s coming… so glorify God every chance you get.