Saturday I attended a friend’s funeral, the second in a handful of months. A cheerful wife and mother to three sons, Allison spent her last night at the Fox Theatre with her family, later posting, “The Lion King was fantastic! So thankful to see it with my boys.”
Spurred by a comment from a Sunday school class, she and her husband discussed whether they would want to know the date of their death, a conversation which took place just 16 hours before she died. He said no—as no doubt most of us would—but she said yes. Yes to living those last days intentionally, living them well.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. – Psalm 90:12
Her oldest son, a high school senior, spoke at his mother’s funeral and it was obvious how much his mother invested in him, in her family, and I wondered:
Does my family knows how much I love them?
Have I taught and lived in a way that would carry them through in my absence?
Do my kids know I’m proud of them?
Do they know my heart and my hope in their futures?
Do I live a visible faith?
Do I reflect a love—as was so eloquently described at the funeral—powered by the cross?
Do I share my utter dependence on God or keep it hidden, too proud to reveal my brokenness?
How would we live if we knew the number of our days? Maybe we should live that way now.
Download May’s Desktop Calendar
Thank you to Karen for reminding me about the calendar for May! I converted the image from this post. I hope it blesses you this month.
I like this. I am going to live this way starting today.
Tara, I’m going to try, too. I just updated the post to add a desktop calendar for May.
Thank you for these calendars, Dawn. I just love them and really count on them to remind me of my priorities each time I open up my laptop.
Thank you for telling me, Anna. That means a lot!
Dawn, somehow I missed this beautiful post about our beautiful Allison. Today, I realized I never changed my calendar on my computer. I’ve been using your pictures all year and loving them. I guess time kind of stopped for many of us at the end of April. It seems like every day, there is another beautiful reminder of Allison. In my family, we call those ‘hugs from heaven’. Thank you for this one!
Amy I love that—hugs from heaven. I’m happy to hear you’re using the calendars and I hope this one keeps Allison’s memory a little closer.