Ecclesiastes 7:2 KJV
It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.
I will begin with a couple of seemingly unconnected thoughts, but they do come together, at least in my mind.
Today is May 31st 2011. Yesterday my family, including my sons: their wives, their and children who, for now, also include Jared and James made what is either our 22nd or 23rd annual trip to visit the family graves on Anita's side. The tradition began when Caleb was a baby and I expressed to Anita that we should begin making memories, traditions that would bind our family together through life. She suggested that her mom and dad visited the family graves each Memorial Day; and the tradition started.
Over the years I have heard a number of pastors say they preferred to officiate over funerals more than weddings, and I have come to think the same way. Ecclesiastes gives a Biblical reason for thinking that way.
Very few at a wedding really lay much to heart. There isn't much thinking in all the celebration.
• Parents are dying to see their child leave the nest so permanently and yet they are also concerned that it might not be permanent
• Friends are just there for the party and
• The young couple has not a clue how serious the commitment they are making truly is
No one is laying this to heart.
A funeral is an entirely different matter. Though culture is becoming more calloused and less caring in the face of death, this one thing is certain at every funeral, no one involved will escape the same fate. It is the end of us all.
The Bible says the living will lay it to his heart. Not all who are breathing are living, at least not in the sense of Biblical life, but there are those who go to the house of mourning and there God gets in their heart. And if that happens, then the house of mourning is a much better place than the other.
It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.
I will begin with a couple of seemingly unconnected thoughts, but they do come together, at least in my mind.
Today is May 31st 2011. Yesterday my family, including my sons: their wives, their and children who, for now, also include Jared and James made what is either our 22nd or 23rd annual trip to visit the family graves on Anita's side. The tradition began when Caleb was a baby and I expressed to Anita that we should begin making memories, traditions that would bind our family together through life. She suggested that her mom and dad visited the family graves each Memorial Day; and the tradition started.
Over the years I have heard a number of pastors say they preferred to officiate over funerals more than weddings, and I have come to think the same way. Ecclesiastes gives a Biblical reason for thinking that way.
Very few at a wedding really lay much to heart. There isn't much thinking in all the celebration.
• Parents are dying to see their child leave the nest so permanently and yet they are also concerned that it might not be permanent
• Friends are just there for the party and
• The young couple has not a clue how serious the commitment they are making truly is
No one is laying this to heart.
A funeral is an entirely different matter. Though culture is becoming more calloused and less caring in the face of death, this one thing is certain at every funeral, no one involved will escape the same fate. It is the end of us all.
The Bible says the living will lay it to his heart. Not all who are breathing are living, at least not in the sense of Biblical life, but there are those who go to the house of mourning and there God gets in their heart. And if that happens, then the house of mourning is a much better place than the other.
No comments:
Post a Comment