YOUR TOMBSTONE

Sketch Archangel Azeral

r.r.lackney

Mark’s Gospel ends the Lord’s Passion with, “Then, they rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. Others watching took note where he was laid.” A few months ago I assisted at a funeral service in Danville’s oldest cemetery.  As we drove beneath the iron entry gates, the beauty of the cemetery’s lawn sparkled in the morning sunlight. The deep green grass was “sprinkled” with hundreds of white, gray, and pink tombstones. A cross here, an angel there, and headstones carved neatly with the names of the dead. Silent, lonely, and mysterious tombstones to mark a Kentuckian. Each tombstone telling a story of a life lived in the sight of God’s Love. I thought, “What is the most common thing about these tombstones?” “The name of the person?” … Yes. “The dates inscribed?”  … Yes “The little crosses at the center near the top?”  … Yes, this also. For me it is the “dash” … the dash between the between the dates, That, for me, is the most common thing on a tombstone. A little dash, 1-1/2 to 2 inches long, the symbol that represents a life of all that happened.  A symbol of the all the accomplishments and failures, all the hopes, and dreams, and all the good works initiated and work left undone. A life summed up in the little “ dash’” between the dates carved into the surface of the stone. Now, everyone’s dash is the same, the dash has a “beginning and end”. And, in my mid 70’s, death seems all too soon …time much too short. The understanding of purpose, meaning, the vision of one’s life much too vague. Our life becomes the story carved into a silent, lonely tombstone will for remain a mystery known only to God. Deacon robert r. lackney My 4th Day Journal July 2012 PS: Many turn from their tombstone with dread.  Others will watch. A few will wonder. The great wonder is in not knowing how our lives will come out. We only have the opportunity to enter into our futures, full of confidence, and the promise that Christ is with us. The stone that marks your grave might read:  “I have Gone to God!”