• Here lies a woman that loved her phone more than her friends.
• We are gathered here to celebrate a man that focused more on providing for his family than he did actually enjoying his family. 
• She was a daughter, sister, friend that always seemed to find the worst in life and obsess over it. 
• He was known for sparking political debates on Facebook threads. 
• She had thousands of followers that admired her, but no friends that truly knew her. 
• Here lies a man that never felt good enough, and his life passed him by before he knew it. 

  It’s a simple question but a complex answer: What do you want said of you at your funeral?    People get all tangled up thinking about their lives… Too tangled, I believe. And I’m right there with you. I’m just as guilty of getting into feedback loops wondering if what I’m doing matters, or where I should be investing my time and energy and money… Certain questions are helpful for finding clarity and honing in on doing what we were made to do… Other questions are unhelpful for doing that. Some questions that culture poses to us, or that we see on hype-Instagram accounts or all these “hustler-entrepreneurs”…    I still remember an ARMY commercial when I was a kid that showed all these badass military guys jumping out of planes, scaling walls, working together as a team… Then it ended with this gruff voice saying, “If someone  wrote a book about your life, would anyone want to read it?”    And that’s a compelling question. It’s inspiring… But it’s also super intimidating. If the answer is NO… then that’s a lot of pressure to turn your life around and all-of-a-sudden be jumping out of planes.    A question that I’ve admittedly asked myself a lot over the last 10 years… Sometimes in a self-absorbed way, sometimes in a healthy way… Is this:   What will people say about me at my funeral?   This isn’t a new thought, or an overly creative question, but if you press into it… It’s incredibly helpful for a number of reasons.    It’s not helpful if we just fantasize about how popular we’ll be, or how many people will be there; it’s not helpful if we obsess over WHEN it’ll be (good grief, that’s not what this is about)…   This is about knowing what we want our legacy to be… And not just WHAT WE DID, like achievements and things, but rather WHO WE WERE… How we went about conducting our lives, what we offered to those around us, what our reputation was, what we believed about the world and in turn, how we treated the world around us.   NIV Teach us to number our days,     that we may gain a heart of wisdom.   Psalm 90:12 NLT Teach us to realize the brevity of life,     so that we may grow in wisdom.    If you’re 30, 40, 50, 60… Number your days.  Average life expectancy is 78 years… Give yourself a sober diagnosis. Subtract your age from 78.    If you’re younger, that might feel like a relief, if you’re older, it might incite a bit of panic… It’s not intended to do either of those things. It’s supposed to be a healthy reminder that time matters. And time can be spent well, or it can be wasted.    Time can be wasted. And I see it in my peers, and I see it in people that are retired. Time can be wasted.    If you were to die tomorrow and your funeral was on Friday of this week: What would people say at your funeral? If they were being honest, what would they say about you?    That might be a hard question to consider… But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask it. If your time was now… What would people say?    And now contrast that with what you’d WANT people to say about you? That should draw a distinction between where you currently are and where you wish you were… Your current reality and a bit of aspiration to where you want to be.    For me, I’d want people to say that I was affectionate. I wasn’t afraid of hugs, or telling people that they’re beautiful. I wasn’t afraid of rubbing a friend’s shoulders or giving them an honest compliment.    I want people to say that I was playful, whimsical… I never passed up on an opportunity to play a game or laugh or surprise someone with something fun.    I want my family to say that they always felt like a priority… Never second to a job or church. That when I was with them, I was present. That my kids didn’t just see my face glued to my phone… and that’s something I seriously need to work on. This is how this exercise can convict us in the best possible ways.    I want people to say that I was committed to health… Physical health, emotional health, spiritual health, financial health… That I didn’t neglect these areas, or expect them to happen accidentally. That I was intentional in these areas of my life.    I want people to share stories of how I helped them follow their dreams. And not in an artificial, hypey-way… but in a real way. That I saw potential in people around me and helped them to take those steps toward living their best lives.    What is it for you? What do you want people to say about you?    Asking this question can actually help us discern what we actually value in life... If it’s something you want said of you, then it’s clearly a value you hold… and if you want people to say but you don’t currently have as a priority: it’s time to make that a value of yours.    JAMES 4:14 NLT 13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. 17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.   That James 4:14 was the first tattoo I ever got. It’s like a Christian Carpe Diem. Don’t take this for granted. People slip away from us every day… What type of ignorance or illusion is it that we think we’re immortal?    Part of that might draw us to spirituality and the Gospel narrative… but for a lot of us it creates a complacency.    And even if we do live forever, and even if everything about heaven and eternity is true… Our opportunity to impact the people around us for good is limited.    Life is like a dragonfly landing on your hand… You can only enjoy it if you don’t white-knuckle it… You cherish it. You treat it delicately. You draw it close and observe and allow your mind to be filled with wonder…   And then, it flies off.    As it will for all of us.    Beautiful, and meaningful, but fleeting.    What will people say of you?    And how does that change how you go about your week ahead?    What can you change?    What’s one thing you can START doing, and one thing you can STOP doing?    Don’t race past this. Take some time to consider this. Write your own eulogy, just by way of mental exercise… And then live into that legacy. Become that person. Your story’s not over. You’re not dead yet, you’re not done yet.    Behold this day, for it is yours to make, whatever you want to make it…   I love you guys. Make it a good day.