Monday I attended a funeral for a long time friend of my wife's family. Impressively, she had lived into her ninth decade of life. Think of the impact one can have on the people around them when they reach their nineties. When thinking about that, I started to look around at the funeral home and realize that the ending to her life wasn't what I would have expected for someone at her age. Now, I am not trying to take anything away from her life. She was a very nice woman that I have spent several holidays with the past ten years. But being at the funeral really made me start to think. I would say there were maybe 25 people at the actual funeral. I know that more came to the viewing the day before also. Those numbers didn't seem that large for someone with her life experience.
I had the feeling come over me of anxiousness as we sat there during the service. I felt myself starting to have emotions bubbling up that weren't there normally. As my wife and I drove away, I turned to her and said, "I want to leave a bigger impact on others' lives than what I saw today." Again, the lady was a sweet, kind, loving person. The people that knew her adored her and respected her. She just didn't impact many outside of her immediate family and friends because she and her husband didn't get out much, especially since I had known them. The main reason was because of health complications, but even so I believe one can make a big impact around them.
With all that said, I want to be impactful throughout my entire life. I want to affect thousands of people positively. I want my influence to go well beyond what I can possibly imagine. The only way I can do so is to live a life that is focused on learning, loving and serving. If I focus on those areas in my life, I know that I can have a major impact on those around me, which then will impact those they are around and so on. I must work at bettering myself, loving others more and helping meet the needs of others. By doing so, I know that I can have an unmeasurable impact on others' lives. Go out and make a difference! God bless!
It might not have been that she didn't impact enough people (not the right phrase, but I think you know what I mean) but just that perhaps a great number of the people on whome she did have an impact had already passed, themselves. It is often the case that people who are that age have outlived a great number of their friends, coworkers, family, etc, and those that are still alive find it harder to get out and about for a funeral than they would have if they were in their 70s or 80s.
ReplyDeleteMy dad was 63 when he passed away and there were hundreds of people at his viewings and funeral. I remember thinking that it would have been a very different picture if he had been in his 80s or 90s when he'd passed - he would have impacted the same number of people either way (or more, if he'd lived longer), but we wouldn't have had any idea because a lot of them wouldn't have been around to pay their respects.
Kami, thanks for the comment. I had thought about that at the funeral, but knowing that this lady didn't leave her house much the last 15 plus years of her life I have to believe it was because she didn't have an large circle of influence. My grandpa passed away this past November at 81 years old and there were probably over 250 people at the funeral and quite a few more that attended just the viewing. It wasn't because he was a well-known leader in the community, rather he was out in the community sharing his wonderful personality.I do believe that sometimes it is the exact reason that you mention though. Thanks again for the comment. God bless!
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