This week I went to two funerals. They were both parents of friends of mine. What struck me was that even though the ones that passed were very different, one a woman and the other a man, one a small event, the other quite large, two different speakers, the message was the same.
LOVE, SERVE, GROW
These three words were from the son, speaking about his mother. He said he had recently said these same words to woman's basketball team at the university he works for. He realized his morals were gleaned from his mother's life, and expounded on how they became her legacy to her family. She was a simple woman who lived through the Depression, never asked for much for herself, worked hard, and expected the best from her children. She LOVED her family, many, many schoolchildren, and her church. She SERVED as a good mother and school worker, and GREW in her faith and expected it of her family.
The other funeral was that of a successful pharmaceuticals manager who later in life, found a calling to helping the poor and needy of Guatemala. He and his wife had four wonderful daughters who all now have given them eight grandchildren. Over and over again the words of LOVE he had for them echoed in the words given by the minister and family members. The word SERVICE came up over and over again also, to his family and the people of Guatemala. It was also mentioned how he GREW in his faith over the years; how intimidating he was as a younger man, and had mellowed in his later years.
As I reflected on both of these beautiful lives and the awesome families that resulted from them, I thought how both funerals shared essentially the same three words of lives well-lived: LOVE, SERVE, GROW.
It's a message worth repeating time and time again! One that causes me to reflect on my own life. It reminds me of the simple passage in Luke 2, taught to me as a child in Bible classes: "And Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and Man." A simple way of saying that Jesus loved, served and grew all his life!
