The Graveyard

^“10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹ Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:10-12 (NIV)

The hot sun was suddenly covered by grayish clouds as my scissor glistened from my first aid kit in the car. My friend and her mother were waiting for me on a slight slope where her sister was buried. The flowers we bought before heading to the cemetery were so colorful in contrast to the gloomy skies that hovered above us.

“You know I don’t cry easily but something hit me as we were making that turn down below the hill,” I softly whispered to my friend.

flowers for a special someone

“Oh my,” she exclaimed.

“Look at all these new markers. So many have been buried here already in a short span of time,” she uttered.

Some of the grave markers had pictures of their loved ones who passed away. One with poem dedicated to a “beautiful wife.” The lines filled with love and longing for what was lost down here. Most of them had flowers, some with metal art like birds or butterflies. On one side, one had small and big pinwheels, dancing with the occasional gusts of wind but actually scared some birds wanting to devour the petals from those beautiful flowers.

“Is this good enough?” I looked up to my friend and her mother as I tried to cut the stalks with my bandage scissor I always kept in the car.

As we arranged the stalks, tears poured from a mother who had lost her child almost 12 years ago. I couldn’t imagine the wound in her heart. All I could do was just to pray for her healing and comfort. Same for my friend.

The markers were so many, same level with the green grass that was beautifully cared for. Most of them were “Christians.” But something was eating in my heart. I knew then why I cried.

It was because seeing so many “Christians” in that graveyard, I wondered if they thought they lived so God could accept them?…Or did they know that they lived because God had accepted them in Christ?

Yes, I mourned, too….For those lives who tried to earn God’s love than freely accepted it. I knew I cried because I wondered how many lived only by what they felt God wanted. I was hurting for those who had human traditions and their standards added to God’s law.

We all came from dust  and to dust we will all return. We all came here with the same conditions: sinners. The end of the journey will matter. Because only those who choose to walk in the narrow pathway will find the abundant life that lasts forever. That is the only way, the only truth, and the only life...

J...E...S...U...S...

"LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered--how fleeting my life is.” – Psalm 39:4 (NLT)