Your Dash

I recently heard a message from a Pastor friend of mine of an iconic celebrity who had just passed away. The story was shared of someone who had spent time traveling with this celebrity on and off for decades, until shortly before his death. The story was a sorrowful one, populated by the abuse of prescription drugs, loneliness, lavish spending and of hiring and firing of people constantly because of paranoia that people were always stealing from him. One of having a physician traveling with him constantly giving him daily injections to keep him going, such a sad life. He also shared that this man had no relationship with his family and to fill the void he paid people to be around him just so that he would never be alone.

The Pastor continued to share of a funeral that he was invited to speak at recently. The passing of a good man, father, uncle to some and a grandfather to others. He said, what was different about this funeral was that everyone in this man's family had stories of how this man had touched their lives one way or another. If someone had a flat tire in the middle of the night at whatever time this father, uncle or grandfather would get out of bed and come to their aid. If your car was broke down he would help you fix it or give you a ride. This man's family had so many stories of how in so many ways he touched their lives. What a legacy this man left behind for his family.

The pastor shared a small testimony of the x boss of this man who also attended the funeral. The x boss shared with the family that before this man retired, for the past ten years this man had perfect attendance at work. Can you imagine ten years of perfect attendance on your job. This man was employed as a custodian for this company, the pastor stated. The gentleman shared of how when this man was requested to clean an office for a meeting, he would go out of his way not only to clean the office immaculately but the hallway and other rooms near by as well. This man would always go the extra mile one way or another, such a testament.

But then the Pastor spoke concerning a tomb stone from a grave sight, as we know, it has a name with some writing on it for example beloved wife, husband, son or daughter. Then the date of birth, a dash and the date of death. You know we see the date of birth and of death but what of the dash, that little line. Such a small insignificant thing to see on a tombstone that everyone misses or passes by. It's that dash that represents your life and so I ask you this day, what would your dash say about you? What would people say about your life? What about "Your-Dash"?