Impact

A good name is better than precious ointment,

​And the day of death than the day of one's birth;

Better to go to the house of mourning

Than to go to the house of feasting,

​For that is the end of all men;

​And the living will take it to heart.

​Sorrow is better than laughter,

For by a sad countenance the heart is made better.

​The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Ecclesiastes 7:1-4, NKJV

The entire stage was covered in floral arrangements sent by friends and family. Most of the seats in the large auditorium were filled. Soft music was playing in the background while a slideshow of the departed flashed across the large screen. His name was David and he was only 24 years old. In a split second, a horrible car accident had taken him home.

Unfortunately, I never got to know David. He was a school friend of my husband, Derek; I had come to support him mostly. Derek was still very shaken from the news we received just a few days earlier.  It's hard to hear about a young person dying in the prime of life... it's much harder when it's someone you know. I tried to imagine what David's wife was feeling at that moment. I didn't know her, but my heart ached for her.  If Derek was suddenly taken like that... I honestly don't know how I'd function. The scary thing is that could very well happen to him - it crosses my mind every morning when he leaves for work. Derek does a lot of driving for his job. 

I thought about David's mother. I have two boys of my own. If I lost either one of them, I think it would break me. No parent wants to see the day when they have to bury their own child. Then there were David's siblings... I pictured losing one of my brothers. David left a huge hole when he passed.

Yesterday this passage really started to make sense to me. Life is so short and we never know when it might be our last day or the last time we see a loved one. Death is usually unexpected and no one is exempt from it. I was really convicted to make sure that Derek and I never part on a bad note. What if we had an argument over something stupid one morning and he's killed on his way to work? There's absolutely nothing worth fighting over when I look at it from that perspective. 

God forbid, but what if I lose one of my boys when they're still young like David? I can only hope that we raise them as well as David's parents raised him and his brothers.  David's older brother, Luke, said at his funeral: "I don't think David died young. We shouldn't judge a life based on how many years that person lived. David accomplished more in 24 years than most people do in [80]."  David's funeral filled a large auditorium of people who travelled from all over the country and even from other countries just to be there. His funeral caused a traffic jam from all the people leaving the church. His death affected people that didn't even know him. What an impressive way to go for someone who was only 24. 

I never knew David in this life, but his death caused me to cherish my marriage in a new way. His death made me want to strive to raise our sons to have an impact on people like David did in the short time he was here on earth. My prayers are with his family. I can't imagine the huge crater he left... but I think that's the goal. I hope that when I die, I leave as big an impact on those in my life as he did in his.