photo by dublindays via stockxchnge

Yesterday I was walking at a park and made a detour into a cemetary. I know, not exactly something you’d do every day. But as I meandered through, the experience shook me up. I thought about the length of life, how death waits around the corner and we never know when our time is up. It reminded me of what Nina says in the movie Bella, “I’ve done research and ten out of ten people die.”

As I looked past the hundreds upon thousands of tombstones, it was also a humbling experience. I thought to myself, I too will be a part of something like this one day.

I thanked God for life,
youth,
health…
that I was still in the land of the living.

I thanked him that I have yet to bury a loved on.
I asked him for strength for the inevitable time when I will.

I asked Him to help me make my short time on earth count… to those I love the most, to those in my circle of influence. I want my short life to make an impact that lasts beyond my time.

It is true for all of us: We will all die. And if we die later rather than sooner, we will all bury ones we love.

It may sound morbid, but keeping this in mind as we go about loving the people around us helps us really love them better. It puts things into perspective because we know we only have a limited amount of time to love them because one day they will be gone or one day we will be gone.

The majority of the tombstones read, “beloved mother, father, son, daughter, wife, husband.” These are the roles that are crucial, the roles that people remember us by when our time is up. All the business roles and professional roles that we put all our energy towards sometimes to the neglect of our personal roles mean nothing for those we leave behind.

I passed by tombstones of lovers who were buried together. One read, “Together forever, in this life and the next,” and it nearly brought me to tears. There’s something so sad about love. It always ends because life always ends, and yet we end love prematurely. We take back our vows to love ’til death do us part.’ We take away love when our partners change. It saddens me.

I passed by the tombstones with fresh flowers. They were usually people who had died recently. And then I passed by tombstones where the writing was barely legible. And I thought, these people have been gone a long time… they once had visitors who brought them flowers, but maybe those that brought them flowers are gone too. Oh, what a somber thought: We will all pass through this life and eventually become a nobody… just another faded tombstone amongst thousands….

so… It made me think, why not make the most of our time while we are still a somebody (a wife, husband, mother, father, son, daughter, friend) to someone?