My Sunday Thought for 2/10/16: Rest In Peace

"What will your epitaph say?  What do you want people to say about you when you are gone?  See God’s face.  Feel His presence.  Trust His love.  Gifts aren’t meant to be paid for, they are meant to be passed along."

-- Robert Duvall (Johnny Crawford), "Seven Days in Utopia"

What will people say about you when you've died?  What will your epitaph say?  When it comes right down to it, why do you give a fig what it says, or what people think - you're dead!  If you cared what they thought you would have lived your life like you cared and there would be no question, right?  And from the start our seemingly meaningless lives, most of us have been taught to give great focus to what other people think of us so we aren't an embarrassment.

I think we have spent so much of our time, whether we admit to it or not, keeping up with the Joneses; trying to look like we've "made it" in our society.  In doing so we missed the only real reason we should be better than we are.  "See God’s face. Feel His presence. Trust His love. Gifts aren’t meant to be paid for, they are meant to be passed along."  

Maybe if we can walk a path that includes God we will, without even realizing it, walk a path that is all inclusive of those around us.  There will be no ego, no concern for opinion, no selfish agenda, and no fog of battle.  Better yet, what would happen if we walked a path God has already set for us?  What would our lives be like if we understood that we cannot "include" God on our path, because God is there regardless of our desire?  We cannot allow God.  We have no choice in the inclusion of God.  What would happen if we felt God's face, felt God's presence and trusted God's love for us?  What would our lives be like if we stopped trying to pay for the gifts God has endowed each of us with, and spent our short time on the earth passing those "gifts" along?  What would happen if we simply concerned ourselves, 24/7/365, with paying forward the gifts of God?

If we can accomplish this simple of all tasks, will we be able to rest in peace at life's end, or will we find that we have lived a life at peace and simply died the way we lived?

It is just a thought, my Sunday thought, for this February 10, 2016. 

Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."