What Will They Say About Us?

Today I attended my Aunt’s funeral and I have to say it was a marvelous and inspiring day. I know funerals are usually sad occasions but today was a little different because Aunt Iris lived an amazingly full life during her 98 years on this earth and hearing the stories and memories people shared about her at her funeral today was such a joy and it was so inspiring.

I realized today that funerals aren’t for the benefit of the person who has passed…they are for the benefit of all of us who are left behind. They are an opportunity for each of us to reflect on our own lives and our own mortality…they are an opportunity for each of us to ask ourselves what we hope others will say about us at our own funerals someday….and a chance for us to contemplate on what changes we will need to make in our own lives for others to be able to say things at our funeral someday that we can feel proud of.

I am confident that as Aunt Iris looked on from the heavens at her funeral today that she felt pleased and proud of the things that were said. She lived an incredible life and she loved others with her whole heart. She was generous and kind and she made everyone feel like they were the most important person in the world to her – which I have to say is an incredible talent to have had. Iris put God first in her life and her family was her next priority. Business was very important to her and she was unbelievably successful at it, but it came after her first two priorities.

After the funeral we came back with some family and watched the movie “Miracles of Heaven”. If you haven’t seen this movie yet SEE IT! It is out on DVD and Blu-ray disc in the stores now and honestly every person on earth needs to watch this movie!  It was so incredibly inspiring and uplifting. It’s the real life story of a family whose daughter is diagnosed with a deadly and debilitating disease and how this family’s faith was tried and tested to its outermost limits. It’s also the story of how the mother learned that “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” (quote by Albert Einstein). She learned that miracles are all around us every single day – like miracle of the kindness of strangers, or the miracle of people coming into our lives exactly when we need them to….miracles are everywhere if we just choose to look for them.

Between the funeral and the movie after it was a teary, joyous, inspiring, and very spiritually uplifting day. Today reminded me that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that He cares about us infinitely and is always with us…always. He loves us unconditionally and He is there to lean on Him as we go throughout this life and beyond. We ARE LOVED!

“Just think of it: You are known and remembered by the most majestic, powerful, and glorious being in the universe! You are loved by the King of infinite space and everlasting time!”  – Dieter F. Uchtdorf

We need to look for and recognize all the many miracles happening every day in our lives. Then we need to give thanks to God for loving us so very much. And finally we need to figure out what changes to make in our own lives so we make sure that we know what they will say about us at our funerals.

Have an amazing weekend everyone!

~Amy Rees Anderson

1 Comment

  • Jane says:

    This article is inspiring just as the story of your aunt’s priorities lead to her inspired life. I believe that miracles happen every day and God blessed his children with life and this is sufficient to be thankful. Thank you for sharing your faith. Never change.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.