Remembered

Written by cycleguy on May 10th, 2012

I attended the calling hours for a mother/grandmother of some folks in the church I pastor.  As I get older, funerals seem to move closer and closer, and make me think a little more about how I want to be remembered.   There are two stories I want to mention in this post.  You may have heard them before.

One of Abraham Lincoln’s earliest political enemies  was Edwin M. Stanton.  He called Lincoln a “low cunning clown” and “the original gorilla.”  “It was ridiculous for people to go to Africa to see a gorilla,” he would say, “when they could find one easily in Springfield, IL.”  Lincoln never responded to the slander, but when, as president, he needed a secretary of war, he chose Stanton.  When his incredulous friends asked why, Lincoln replied, “Because he is the best man.”  Years later, as the slain president’s body lay in state, Stanton looked into the coffin and said through his tears, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.”  His animosity was finally broken by Lincoln’s long-suffering, nonretaliatory spirit.  Patient love won out.

An inscription on a tombstone in a small English village:

Here lies a miser who lived for himself,

and cared for nothing but gathering wealth.

Now where he is or how he fares,

nobody knows and nobody cares.

Two different views on being remembered.  There is no doubt which one I would like to be said of me.  This Sunday is Mother’s Day, but I am going to take a different tact.  Rather than focus on mothers and tell them how they “ought to be” (like using Proverbs 31 or “Mothers ought to be like Mary, or Martha, or Esther, etc”), I thought I would talk about Love’s Profile.  “Love is Patient.  Love is Kind.  Love is not Jealous.  Love is not boastful. Love is not arrogant.  Love is not rude.  Love is not selfish. Love is not irritable. Love is not resentful.”  Every mother wants to be loved.  What better way to show it than practicing the love mentioned in I Corinthians 13?

How would you like to be remembered?  If your mother is still living, what would you like her to remember about you?  My own late mother embodied many of these qualities of love.  I say “many” because there were times she was irritable toward my brothers. 😛  Make sure you take the time to let your mom know how much you love her. 

 

12 Comments so far ↓

  1. I want to be remembered as someone who loves the Lord and loves to laugh.

    • cycleguy says:

      I can go with that one. 🙂 I think if you and I ever had a chance to meet on earth, we would get kicked out of some places.

  2. Daniel says:

    Given what is left on my table, for now, I would be fully satisfied if my daughter carried my love for her in her heart for the rest of her life. Better still if she spread it around to her family.

    Love the story about Lincoln. I don’t think most know much about his early career as he come into public life. There were a lot of marks in his loss column that would have destroyed nearly all others.

    • cycleguy says:

      I have to believe your daughter will carry your love for her for all time Daniel. Kids may act as though they don’t care at certain times in their lives, but a steadfast love of a father never is forgotten. Lincoln’s early life is the stuff of legends.

  3. Tom says:

    Unconditional love is what my mother has shown me at my worst. I hope to be remembered the same way.
    Praying now all who hear your message come to understand and live the love of God. Blessings!

  4. Zee says:

    This topic has been quite frequent in my mind lately (not sure why…) – how will I be remembered (because even though I am sort of young, things happen).

    I try to let my mom know that I love her. Heh, remembered how when I was a kid, I would sometimes ask her “Do you want to know how much I love you?” and then hug her with all my strength (granted, my strength back then wasn’t much, but I gave it all then anyway). My mom’s a blessing :))))

  5. lindaM says:

    Hi Bill,
    For sure Bill, how would we know what the target is if we didn’t have scripture? How would we know what love is? How would we know what sin is? How would we know God? and know right from wrong? How would we know the voice of God? How would we know how to walk with God? how to worship him? that he is the LORD Almighty? that he is our Savior?

    I’m belaboring my point. The believer needs to read the scriptures. Without reading the scriptures the believer will be deceived (beginning now, up to the end) and will perish. Because they will renounce their faith for lack of understanding and knowledge of God. There’s going to be a big push for unity and peace at any cost and a denouncing of our faith is going to be a subtle (or not so subtle) part of that unity.

    the devil is hugely crafty. Is he going to leave the church alone? No, he’s going to use the church to destroy believers. If you want to be known as a great man, push and push the reading of the scriptures to believers. This is what will help save their lives.

    What I want to be remembered for is ‘she kept her faith in God’.

    • cycleguy says:

      Staying faithful is important Linda and your doing so through this trial and all preceding and following will carry on.

  6. Now that I’m a parent, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I want to be remembered. Not necessarily for my own ego, but moreso the legacy I would leave in their lives. It’s convicting and inspiring at the same time.