I sat in the tufted leather chair with Davis staring at me from the other side of the large conference table. Our lawyer friend sat between us and, armed with pens in hand, we were ready to sign and date a stack of official papers. We weren’t splitting up. We were signing end of life documents which were all based on the presumption that we are of sound mind- something that’s, at times, debatable. We’d recently had some living wills done and were also giving our old wills an overhaul. No one was being written out or anything dramatic like that, but situations always change with time. 

We’ve had wills since the kids were born. Back then, it listed their guardians and backup guardians in the case of our untimely demise. At that point, we were young, our skin was taut, and death seemed like such an impossibility. A will was more of just a formality. I know young people die, everyday, but the low odds kept the notion tucked way back in the recesses of our minds. But, as I’m now about to hit the halfway mark of the 50’s and Davis has crossed over the rickety bridge to the 60’s, I guess we’re at the age when we feel more of a push to finalize those unpleasantries no one wants to discuss. Living wills, of course, prevent one from lingering in a hopeless vegetative state hooked up to machines, but won’t allow for any premature unplugging either- in the event the children try to move things along to keep some non-refundable reservations at a tropical resort or something like that. I suppose the next thing we’ll need to do is get our burial plots secured, so Davis isn’t tempted to stick me in one at the back of the cemetery by the dumpsters that he finds at a steal.

I think it was when I crossed over into my 50’s that I started to think differently about life and death. About legacy and purpose. About time and resources. If you want to get a realistic perspective on how fast your material footprint will be erased, you just have to watch children break up their parents’ home after they’ve passed. They’ll claim a few things for themselves, and divide the rest between sell, donate, and trash. In a month or two, everything their parents built, collected, treasured, and accumulated is emptied out, dispersed, and a for sale sign is in the yard of the house they’d worked so hard to buy. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s the natural flow of life and death and the passing of the generations and we have no reason to believe the same won’t be true for us when we’re gone. Our kids don’t live in Mississippi now and will have no use for our house or too many things in it. That’s just reality. 

I came across a 1,600 year old quote by John Chrysostom that paints the picture well- “We are only temporary guests on earth. We recognize that the houses in which we live serve only as hostels on the road to eternal life. We do not seek peace or security from the material walls around us or the roof above our heads. Rather, we want to surround ourselves with a wall of divine grace; and we look upward to heaven as our roof.” 

Days like Monday remind us that this is a fallen, broken-down world. Not just remind us- they smack us right in the face with that reality. The audacity of evil is staggering. The growing appetite of wickedness to plant its flag on higher and more brazen summits is revolting. The arrogant smirk of depravity is chilling. As Christians, we are not at home here. Thank God. We’re not at home here, where innocent, little children are murdered in their classroom. The Bible says we don’t belong here- we’re “citizens of heaven.” We’re checked into this hotel, but we’re not staying long. The only things that will last past our eulogies are the treasures we store up in that permanent place where we’re headed. The rest of it’s on borrowed time. While we’re here, let’s make wise investments with our lives and the resources God has trusted to us. We all have a purpose. A difference we can make for God’s kingdom. 

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be.” John 14:1-6

Night, 

JONI