A Funeral Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the funeral of the father-in-law of one of my friends.

I never met the man who died, but Mike is my friend, as is Penney, his wife, and it's Penney's dad who died Monday. It just occurred to me that I don't even know his name.

Mike says his main goal in life was to live to be 90 years old. He achieved that goal last Easter.

Tomorrow the three of us in my house will travel about an hour to the north on the Natchez Trace, to Kosciusko (it's pronounced Kozzy-ESko, if you need some help with that) where we'll attend the funeral at 2:30 PM.

It's a somber occasion, of course, but we want to go to support Penney at this time.

Attending any funeral brings home to us the fragility of life, and the eternal questions of what is life all about.

This man, whose life we are celebrating tomorrow, was he happy? Was he productive? Will he leave a legacy?

I've chatted before with friends about this, and many of them feel that having children is what their life is all about, that their children are their legacy.

I'm not sure I agree with that. I'm entertaining the notion that there ought to be more.

It seems to me we're here on this Earth for a greater reason than to simply make more people.

How about this? We are here for relationships, for creating or building, and for joy.

Relationships: I believe one of the reasons God put us here on this Earth is to forge relationships. First, a relationship with God, which is and should be a continually building and growing thing, and second to build wonderful relationships with people - with family and friends.

Building and having good relationships is one of the main reasons we're here.

Building/Creating: Another reason I believe we have been given the gift of life is so we can build or create things. This can be physical things like houses or computers or toolsheds or shipping canals, or it can be intangible works, such as poetry or music or art, or it can be math equations or computer programs or a new way to prioritize finances...

I believe if we don't use our lives in some creative capacity, if we don't somehow leave this Earth a better place than it was when we arrived, then we've missed out big time.

Joy: I also believe we are put here to enjoy the gift of this life, this Earth, our families, our country, our friends, the creations and efforts of others. If we don't live in constant joyous awe of God's creation and the works and lives of others around us, then we've missed out big time yet again.

We have so much to be thankful for.

These are the things on which I meditate as I prepare to attend the funeral tomorrow, a celebration of life for a man I never knew, but who nonetheless is causing me to stop for a moment, and ponder why he was here.

And why I am.