You ready for your broken tombstone?

I came across this tombstone at Horn Cemetery in McKinney, TX.?Horn Cemetery is a small, old place tucked away just on the northwest corner of Erwin Park.?It’s about 150 years old and has among its roughly 200 dead, some Civil War veterans.

This particular headstone stood out to me – cracked apart with the broken piece leaning upon its other half. It marked the remains of a man named William Henderson Horn, Sr.?He was born on December 10, 1815 & died on May 1, 1887.?I know very little about this man.?After spending a little bit of time online, I discovered that he was born in North Carolina and at age 24 he married a woman named Martha Elizabeth Carruth and that they had 14 children – Anna, Minerva, Robert, James, William, Martha, George, Mildred, Franklin, Eli, Francis, Clarissa, Alexander and Edward (and some of you think I’m crazy with my seven kiddos!).

Other than that brief bit of information – I could not find much of anything else about Mr. William Henderson Horn, Sr.?He may have been a man of much importance & influence.?He may have been a simple farmer.?He may have had great wealth or perhaps he died penniless.?All I know is that his gravestone is broken in two pieces. All his earthly achievements are gone.?His wealth, if he had any, was dispersed decades ago. Pretty much all that’s left of Mr. Horn’s physical existence on this terrestrial ball is a broken tombstone.

And the same thing will happen to me.?And to you.?

What are we to do with that?

I think we can find some guidance for our today by rolling the clock back several thousand years.?It’s agreed upon by a fair many folk that Israel’s greatest king was a guy named David. ?David’s life was marked by his fair share of ups and downs, some wild successes and some abysmal failures, there were wise decisions and some terrible, no good, awful decisions. ?Fortunately for us, during all of the above, he did a lot of reflecting & he wrote down many of his reflections, prayers and desires. And in one of those journaling sessions, he locked into something that I think can help us avoid the aforementioned broken tombstone dilemma.?Here’s what he noted:

As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. (Psalm 103:15-16).

In part, David seems to be wrapping his brain around the fact that we are here today, and we are gone tomorrow. This was his reality. And this is our reality.?And once we come to grips with the reality of this reality then it ought to impact our perspective & our behavior.

So, what should we do? ?Can I make two suggestions?

First, come to grips with the fact that if we focus all our time and energy and resources on climbing the corporate ladder & on collecting stuff for the here and now, then our legacy is likely going to be summed up by a broken tombstone. Your impact will fade quickly into nothingness. This is the "refine how you think" side of the coin.

Second, begin to make decisions with your calendar, your checkbook, & your talents that reflect an understanding that people matter more than position…that relationships are more important than riches…that helping another is better than hoarding for self. ?This is the "refine how you act" side of the coin.

As we begin to fully appreciate the truth of this type of thinking then there ought to be a corresponding increase in the frequency with which we serve, care & look after about those around us. Put another way, if we take this to heart & begin to realign the trajectory of our life, then we will find ourselves investing in the things that matter beyond the here and now then.?

And when the wind passes over the field of our life for the last time, our influence & impact will ring for generations.?

Finally (& this is important), remember that the target isn’t perfection. Rome wasn't built in a day and our habits and priorities, perhaps shaped over decade likely won't pivot on a dime. So think about a slow & deliberate devaluing of the temporal in favor of that which will outlast us. ?If we’re not moving in that direction then we should fear that after we are gone the sum of our lives will amount to a broken tombstone.?