Live With The End In Mind

I attended another funeral this weekend, a funeral for the father of a friend of ours. Dick Day was an incredible guy who loved much and was loved by many. He was a great example to many in our community.

During the service, the pastor talked about something that has stuck with me since I read Stephen Covey's book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. One of the habits Covey mentions in his book is to "begin with the end in mind." In that chapter, Covey gives us an exercise to do. He asks us to picture our own funeral.

During the funeral, someone from your family, your best friend, someone from the community and someone from your church will get up to talk about your life. They will tell the truth and nothing but the truth. You picture in your mind what you would want each of these people to say. That is the "end" you will be keeping in mind. Then, you are to step back into the present an live your life so that those people can truthfully say those things about you at your funeral, when that day comes.

The pastor mentioned that this was not an exercise for Dick Day, it was the real deal. This really was his funeral. But, he had lived his life with the end in mind.

As a result, here are a few of the things that were said about him that I can remember:

He served people and cared about them because he knew that people mattered to God. Many stories were shared about him befriending strangers and sowing into their lives.

He was frugal on the things that didn't matter and generous on the things that did matter. He would drive for miles to save 10 cents on a stick of butter but would be very quick to pick up the check at lunch.

If you sliced him in half, you would find him to be the same on the inside as he was on the outside.

Wouldn't it be great to have things like this said about you at your funeral? The choice is yours.