Do you ever think about your funeral? Have you ever wondered what others would say about you on the day they gather around to honor you at the end of your life?
It may seem like a crazy question, but go with me for a minute here. Perhaps we don’t plan our funerals often enough. Maybe we don’t think about the end of our lives like we should.
I recently attended the coolest funeral I’ve ever experienced. E.V.E.R. I know it’s probably uncommon to use the words “cool” and “funeral” in the same sentence, but I have no other way to explain it. You know when you’re greeted at the door with virgin mimosas, you’re in for one awesome funeral.

God called my sweet friend Debbie Sue home a few weeks ago. We all prayed for her to be healed and stay with us, but God chose to heal her in a different way – calling her home for eternity.
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As I stood at her funeral, I wanted to capture the hour and a half we celebrated, put it in a snow globe and set it on my shelf to be reminded of just how I want to live my life.

Design Your Legacy

In Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy’s new book, Living Forward, they ask, “At the end of your life, what will those closest to you say, what will they remember, how will they assess your legacy?”
Debbie Sue’s daughter and husband stood before a large crowd of friends and family there to celebrate the life of this amazing woman and shared about the legacy Debbie Sue left. She made you smile every time she walked into a room. Never did you feel you didn’t matter when in her presence. She had an angelic voice to soothe even your worst days. Most importantly… she didn’t let a moment pass where she didn’t take the opportunity to tell you about Jesus.
We mourned at her funeral, of course. But more than anything, we celebrated. Celebrated her smile. Her laugh. The lives who’ve been forever changed because of knowing her.
That’s the kind of legacy I want to leave.

Imagine Your Own Funeral

When I sit down to really think about my funeral – to think about the end of my life – am I truly where I want to be? Am I living my life the way Debbie Sue lived hers? Am I leaving a legacy that people want to remember? Oh… how I pray so.
Michael Hyatt focuses on some life-changing questions in his book, even going so far as to challenge us to write our eulogy.

What will those closest to me remember about my life? 

What stories will they tell one another? 

Will those stories make them laugh, cry, sigh, or all three?

How will they summarize what my life meant to them? 

If sweet Debbie Sue would have written her own eulogy and asked these questions, I know she would have downplayed them. She would have waved her hand and said something in her Texas accent about not making a big deal out of her life.
But her life was a big deal, because her legacy was a big deal. It was a big deal because it wasn’t so much about her, but what God used her to do in her time on this earth. And her legacy will live on through the generations, because her daughter Katie is continuing it, and I have no doubt the same will be said about her soon-to-be born grandchild.
Hyatt says, “Our legacy comprises the spiritual, intellectual, relational, vocational, and social capital we pass on. It’s the sum total of the beliefs you embrace, the values you live by, the love you express, and the service you render to others. It’s the you-shaped stamp you leave when you go.”
Debbie Sue left a stamp on the world, no doubt.
When I get to the end of my life, I pray the questions above are easy to answer. I pray my legacy isn’t about me, but about what God did in my life and in the lives of others.
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[reminder]Have you considered writing your eulogy? What kind of legacy do you think you’re leaving? [/reminder]