A Great Loss

Last Saturday twenty-five of us gathered on the pier in Edmonds on the Puget Sound for the sprinkling of the ashes of my neighbor.  Carolyn and I were more than speaking acquaintances with Rick.  We engaged in conversations, and Carolyn would occasionally take him some fresh peaches from the market.  For the past two years he allowed us to use his parking space on top in exchange for our garage down below. 

Though his death is painful for his kids and close friends, I wonder at the greater void that was lost with Rick’s passing.

Steve Jobs died recently.  He and his team of innovators gave us the Apple computer, iPhone, iPad, iPod and so many other life-enhancing products.  We have to wonder at what else his fertile mind could have brought us had he lived another twenty years.

Here’s the point.  John Maxwell and Les Parrot made this comment in their book 25 Ways to Win with People: 

“Death is not the greatest loss.

The greatest loss is what dies

inside of us while we live.”

There are still:

  Books to write

    Blogs to post

      Songs to compose

        Poems to rhyme

          Children to teach

          Spouses to love

        Sermons to prepare

      Houses to build

    Lives to live

  Speeches to deliver

And on – and on – and on!

Actually, the point is already made. 

However …

The BIG questions we need to ask are these:

-Am I afraid of my dreams?

-How seriously do I desire whatever it is I desire?

-What if I fail?  So what?

-Do I have a plan for launching my dream?

Or maybe you’ve said, “Before my life is over, I want to try my hand at ______.”

When we come to the end of our days may we be able to say …

“I wrung the towel dry.”

“I got my music out.”

“I brought my dreams to the light of day.”

And then …

And then, when we do come to our earthly end, we will be able to look back over the landscape and know that we have lived life well – very well indeed.