DAY 40 — THE EMPTY TOMBSTONE

A sculptor was commissioned
to carve a tombstone for a wealthy man.

He worked for days on the stone—
but strangely,
he left the center completely empty.

When the client asked,
“Why is there no inscription?”
the sculptor replied,
“Because in God’s story,
no grave deserves the final word.
Your life is not defined by this stone—
it is defined by what comes after it.”

The wealthy man stood silent—
never thinking of death as a passage,
only as an end.

Lent ends at the doorway of Resurrection.
It reminds us that sin does not have the last word—
grace does.
That suffering does not have the last word—
healing does.
That death does not have the last word—
Christ does.

Your failures don’t finish you.
Your pain doesn’t name you.
Your grave moments don’t define you.

Lent prepares your heart
to walk out of tombs
you thought were permanent.

God leaves the stone blank
because He is still writing your story.
And resurrection is the final chapter.