I attended another funeral this week. That’s been 7 deaths in the last 5 months. All were friends or family of people I am close with. This last one was the father of some of our church members. It was sudden and unexpected. Five out of the seven were like that. Those are always the toughest.

I’ve attended 4 of the funerals. Here’s two quick thoughts:

1. Funerals are mandatory. Weddings are really discretionary. You don’t have to go to them all. Just send a gift and a little money and all is forgiven. Funerals are the opposite. You don’t have to do anything or say anything or try to help in anyway. Just be there. That family will always remember that you were “there for them.” That’s the best thing you can do. Just be there.

2. Life is measured by relationships. Nobody talks about your career or your bank account or how talented you were at your funeral. It’s all about people. Friends, family, all the people your life touched. All four of the funerals I attended packed the place out and in a few instances, had to bring out more chairs. That’s the stuff life is made of.

I’m definitely hoping this season is over.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 2nd, 2006 at 5:14 am and is filed under The Church At Polaris. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.