"- ". Hmmm...now that is an interesting way to start a blog don't you think?
My birthday is coming up, and while it doesn't really matter to me it got me to thinking.
I really had no say in being born. I didn't get to choose my parents. I didn't get to choose the day or time. I won't get to choose the day I die. Those are things beyond my grasp of capabilities. Truthfully I am not responsible for those things any ways.
But I am responsible for the in between time.
The "-."
Have you ever went and looked at a graveyard? Last year my sisters and I walked through an older graveyard in Stanton Texas. It wasn't very big, but it was full. It was a very peaceful place.
We walked around and looked at the different headstones that were there. Some were decorated with pretty flowers etched into the stone. Some had babies or different items etched into them to represent the person that had been placed there so long ago. The dates were in the early 1900's and late 1800's.
I would venture to say that there is probably no one around at this time that remembers a single person that was buried there. I started to say soul that was buried there, but I would have been wrong. There are no souls there. Just worn out bones turned to dust.
We looked at the headstones like I said and they all had dates on them. A beginning date and and end date. Some were many years apart, some only days, possibly hours. But each had a beginning and an end.
But stuck between each of the dates the stone carvers had meticulously etched in a "-".
How funny that the dash, the most important thing in a persons life, would get so little recognition.
Oh sure some said "Loving wife" "Loving husband" "Sweet Baby", but really is that all the description that they will get.
They existed on this earth but for a short time. All of us are like that.
We think that because we exist now that somehow that matters. It has to count for something right? But really, it is just a dash.
James 4:14 says our lives are but a vapor. Have you ever watched vapor? It is there but for a moment and then it is gone. You never see it again. Poof and it is out of here. That is our lives.
Solomon put it in these terms, "There is a time to be born and a time to die."
But what about that dash?
Oh true, our lives mean something right now while we are living and breathing, but when we take that last breath, when our hearts beat that last thump, what will the dash be that stands in between?
Our lives on this earth are but for a moment. Fleeting moments at that. But our souls are for eternity. That is why I couldn't say that souls were buried in that little graveyard, or any graveyard for that matter. No, your body may die but your soul is eternal.
Where we spend eternity depends on that dash. It is a very important thing. So many of us think that we were put on this earth to please ourselves. That it doesn't matter what we do, or who we do it to. We think we are only answerable to ourselves. But we will be answerable, some day. Eternity waits for everyone. And then the judgement.
Someday, hopefully soon, my Lord and Savior is going to be coming back for those whose dash lived for Him. Those who knew that this vapor of a life would not matter, but that eternity would. That dash determines your destination.
Yes this life is but a vapor. It will pass. For some way too soon and for others it lingers way too long, but in the grand scheme of eternity it is but a moment.
As we looked at the headstones we could see the occupations of some of the people. Like I said earlier, Mother, Father, child, some were Sailors, Preachers Farmers, etc. You can go to any graveyard in the world and on most headstones you would be able to find a word or two, possibly a short poem that would describe the person buried beneath your feet. But as descriptive and eloquent as those words may be, it is still the "-" that will speak for us when we stand before God.
It is said of a famous actor/singer that his headstone says "I did it my way." A lot of our headstones do not have to have that etched into them, it is just a given
Mathew 7:21-23 says "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?" Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers!"
There is a poem called "Only One Life Twill Soon Be Past" by C. T. Studd. If you get a chance look it up. The two lines that always stick out to me are "Only one life twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last."
So I ask you, when you stand before God on judgement day, will you be able to defend your "-" or will He look at you like He will so many others and declare "I never knew you"?
