The BFF told me I was a thinker. A THINKER. (Which is totally different from the Thinker.) Hmmm... I never thought of that. I never classified myself as a thinker. But it is very true.
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| my "Thinker" pose...=) Can't you see the resemblance? |
For instance:
I am currently working through Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. I got bogged down in the chapter called Begin with the End in Mind. And, then I got distracted by two novels (the latest installments from Rick Riordan's Hero Series).
Mr. Covey's point for that chapter is his to explain. You can read the book for yourself. But, what I got from this chapter was all in the first 2 pages.
He has you envision your funeral and what you want people to say about you at your funeral. Then, he wants you to plan your life back from there. What are you going to have to do in order for people to say you were ________? If that is how you want to end up, what's your plan for getting there?
That's the idea of the chapter in a nutshell. You can thank me later. I, personally, should just call it a good effort and move on to the next chapter.
So, here is what this Thinker has been thinking about in regards to this idea of beginning with the end in mind and funerals.
I have attended two gut wrenching funerals lately. My sil's and friends of my in-laws. (that was a triple funeral and a doozy on many levels)
The word used over and over to describe my sil was passionate. She was totally a bull by the horns kind of gal. People are not going to forget that. It is part of her legacy.
There have been a couple pretty influential woman who have passed away in the last month or so. People have said some very interesting things about them at their funerals.
Margaret Thatcher, stateswoman and first female PM of England. She was influential. She was not a woman politician, she was a politician who was a woman. She was the embodiment of feminist ideology, yet they hated her. I admire her spunk and the fact that she was a LADY. She was feminine and ladylike. She was strong. Of all her many accomplishments, she considered the rescue of a child during WWII, the top of the top. I want to be like her when I grow up....
Edith Shaeffer. I have sung her praises a time or two on this blog, and in other places. Learning about Edith Shaeffer challenged my paradigm about how I relate to ministry and my husband. I want to love and support my husband in the way she supported hers, and allow God to grow my ministry in the way He wants. I want to have Biblical thinking like she did, and I want to love people the way she did. I want to be like her when I grow up...
Thankfully Elizabeth Elliot hasn't kicked the bucket yet. She is another woman I greatly admire. She did great things for God.
This is what I want people to say about me at my funeral. I want people to say, Bernadette (that's my name-don't wear it out) loved God with all her heart, mind, soul and strength. Her chief desire above all else was to glorify Him in all she did and said. That was what she was aiming for.
That's what I want to hit. I want to glorify God and I want to influence others so they want to glorify God with their lives too.
How do I get there?
By immersing myself in the Word of God and prayer. First priority, not last thing squeezed into my day. Seeking direction through revelation already available. Seeking direction by pouring out my heart, and asking for and listening for direction. Nothing can be substituted for this. It takes time and effort. There are no short cuts.
By focusing on ministering not just ministry. The people, not the activity.
By pointing others to Christ. Through my blog. Through my spoken words. Though my life style. I want it to be more than rhetoric. I want it to be real. I want to be at the place where I truly can say, "not I but Christ, be honored and exalted."
That's what this thinker has been pondering...
I will turn the questions on you. What do you want people to say about you when you die? What are you going to do now to get there? How can you begin with the end in mind?
