Ecclesiastes 7:2, “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 take it to heart.”

The 3rd weekend of October was pretty tough; 2 funerals and another death in our midst.

Solomon teaches us something very important, that it’s better to go to those places where mourning is taking place, because that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart. Another translation puts it this way, “It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die, and you should think about it while there is still time.”

Not a scare tactic, but a simple reality – one day, and it could be any day, our life will end – we need to take that to heart, ponder, prepare, and live our lives in light of that truth.

Do your best to consider each and every day as a gift given to you by God; don’t waste your time complaining or focusing on the negative, life’s too short for that. Life really is a gift, don’t waste it! That can happen so easily – even with people who have so much potential, if they allow themselves to get caught up in the things that don’t really matter – things that are terrible, or even trivial.

Remember that saying, “Only one life, soon it will pass, only what’s done for Christ will last.”

When life is over, and our family and friends offer our eulogies, what will they say? Think now, ponder, even plan, and give them something good to share. Let them say our life was about the Lord – that we loved Him with all of our heart. Let them share that our life was about people. That we did our best to love those people who crossed our paths, especially the ones within our homes.

Hopefully one day the consensus will clearly be, that Jesus was our Lord – and in the end…we ended up being a lot like Him.

Your brother in Christ,
Manny