Die Empty

Imagine the day when someone (a relative, a friend, a stranger) comes in to your home and touches every single, solitary piece of paper that you have ever filed (or piled), every trinket you ever collected, every piece of furniture you dusted, every item of clothing and pair of shoes you wore (or never did wear), every journal you wrote, every picture you framed or put in albums or stashed in a box, EVERYTHING and decides what happens to it all. Eventually that day will come! It is not something we spend a lot of time thinking about…perhaps it crosses our minds periodically but we quickly dismiss it and act as if it doesn’t affect what we do now. Today.
 

There will come a time when someone WILL make the decision on everything you own, hoard, collect, etc. They will determine whether (1) to keep it. (2) Sell it. (3) Give it away—and to whom? To Goodwill? To a child? To a grandchild? To a friend? Or (4) throw it away.

Some of the decisions will be difficult and heart wrenching, others will be easy. Some decisions will lead to tears, others to laughter. Some will wonder why in the world you kept “it” in the first place, others will wonder how it could have lasted so long. Some decisions will take a very long time as they read what you wrote and look at your pictures, others will not take long at all. Regardless of the time it takes or the emotions that surface….the task must be done. Everything we own will be touched and a judgment will be made as to what should happen to it.

Why do I bring all of this up? Why am I asking us to ponder this? Honestly, for many reasons!! But for one....because I often “count what doesn’t count” and I forget to “count my days so my days will count”!! Because as David says in Psalm 39, my time on earth will be brief!! My days are numbered!! My life is no longer than the width of my hand and my entire lifetime is just a moment….a breath!! What am I focusing on? What I have or don’t have? What I want and/or think I need? Stuff? Trials? Or am I focusing on relationships? Memories? Eternity?

We get what we go after…Oh Lord, make what I go after matter!! Help me to count my days while I still have days to count!! Help me to die empty!!! Help me to do "that" now and not wait! Help me to say "that" now and not wait! Become "that" now! Love them now!! I don't want to wait and still have love or works or words left!! I want to die empty!!

Thank you Tara for switching blog weeks with me so that I could move my dad into a long-term care facility….touching everything he and my mom had….making decisions about each one….