Live Your Dash

   I recently attended a small funeral for my wife’s grandfather (Pap).  Due to COVID 19, the service was with immediate family only.  He passed away from other natural causes.  It was a very intimate experience and honestly one of the most touching funerals I have ever attended.  

     The chaplain who led the service had been meeting with Pap through hospice and had come to know him over the previous few months.  I want to share a life lesson that came from the service.

     Pap lived a full life; he was 88 years old when he passed away.  Now you may be thinking, “Yes, 88 years is a full life”.  However, you would be wrong.  “Fullness of life” shouldn’t be judged by the years that we live, but by the lives that we touch and the legacy that we leave behind. 

     Pap had an infectious smile and an irresistible personality.  What I heard over and over again was how he lit up the room no matter where he was.  I also heard examples of how he was loving, kind, gentle, joyful, good, and had self-control.  

     As I listened to the examples of the traits that he possessed, I kept thinking to myself “He possessed the Fruits of the Spirit”.  Pap was a person of faith throughout his life and would probably be humbled to hear this said of him.  “Faith and Family” were priorities in his life.

     As I listened to the stories, I thought about Pap’s life.  He didn’t die with a large bank account, he wasn’t the CEO of a Fortune 500, and he didn’t drive a Mercedes Benz.  He died in a nursing home with nothing left but his loving wife, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, his infectious smile, his legacy, and his relationship with his Heavenly Father.  

     What I heard and witnessed was that though he didn’t come to the end of his life with ‘financial success’ as some may describe it, he couldn’t have lived a more impactful life”.  Now that is “Fullness of Life.

     The chaplain talked about “Living Your Dash”.  The Dash is the line placed between the year of birth and the year of death on the headstone.  The point of the message—the Dash is what matters. 

     It doesn’t matter if you live to be 30 or 100 years old.  How you live your Dash is how you will be remembered.  How are you living your Dash?  When loved ones gather to remember you at the end of your life, will they talk about the Cadillac that you drove, the mansion you lived in, the fortune that you amassed, or will they talk about the positive, uplifting, and inspiring legacy that you left behind and the lives that you touched? 

     As many of us have more time to reflect during the COVID 19 slow down, maybe it is time to take a few minutes and think about your Dash.  Are you happy with your Dash or is it time for a change?  Today is the day to start living your Dash as you want to be remembered in life.  Pap lived his—now let’s live ours!