Pieces of Life

Several of us went back to the home of a woman from our church who had been murdered just about a month earlier. Our goal was to move some furniture and other belongings for her son.

It was a hard thing to do.

The house was filled with broken glass where the S.W.A.T. team had broken windows to try and gain entry to the home. Plastic covered the floor where she had fallen by the door. Things were in general disarray, but in the midst of the chaos, there were memories too.

Her family found the belongings they wanted plus pictures, yard and lawn equipment, and some bicycles too. I remember staring out the back window at the pool and hot tub where I had done a baptism. I remembered the laughter of neighborhood kids playing in the pool, etc.

I got choked up once or twice. There were lots of hugs in the midst of the move. Some laughter too. Memories...both good...and not so good.

The whole experience made me think about my own life. Like the glass, debris, and "stuff" scattered around my friend's home; my life has pieces too. Some of those pieces are good. Some, not. Still, some day, people will sort-through the things I leave behind--including intangible memories. They'll decide what to keep and what to throw-away.

I want more keeper pieces. I want my life to have more stuff that my family and friends will want to hang on to and remember than things they'll try to forget. I want my life to matter and my efforts to have meaning LONG after I'm in heaven.

YOUR LIFE PIECES

What about you?

I think most people feel the way I do about our "life pieces." Solomon wrote about this thousands of years ago. When looking at the futility and foolishness of a purely materialistic life, he concluded his study by saying, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of all mankind (Eccl. 12:13) In chapter seven of this same book, he wrote, "A good name is better than fine perfume and the day of one's death is better than the day of birth (Eccl. 7:1)."

In other words, Solomon was all about legacy. Leaving good life pieces in our wake. To do that, I think we need to practice what I call, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Christians." I write about these in my book, "Walking to and With, Jesus."

These habits are disciplines lived-out and practiced by Christians for over 2,000 years. And, they're simple--not hard to understand or implement. To learn more about them, just click this link to get information on the book and/or to get a copy for yourself: Walking To & With Jesus.

Blessings,

Pastor Joel