Yesterday Cheryl and I met with an area Funeral Home and finished the arrangements for when we die. We have talked about doing this for some time, and now it is done. Basically, we each purchased an insurance policy that will cover all the expenses of our choices. We have removed the burden of planning and paying from our children, which was our intention.

In case you are wondering, as far as we know, our deaths are not imminent. There is no diagnosis or disease that prompted us to take this action. We simply knew what we wanted to have happen and made the arrangements ourselves so that others would not have to do so.

We talked about all of this openly. We know we are going to die from this life. We also know that we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. So we used that knowledge and faith as we took this action.

Something else we did was update all the plans for our memorial services. During my ministry, I had a form entitled “A Help and Guidance in the Event of My Death” that I encouraged members to complete. Many congregations have something like this. You can fill out if you have made arrangements with a funeral home and cemetery, if you wish to donate organs, the location of your will, and other practical things like that. It also allows you to express where you would like to have your service held, who the pastor should be, Scripture readings, hymn/song selections, and memorial recipients. I encouraged people to fill it out, give a copy to the church, and copies to their families. Again, this is a loving thing that will ease preparations for those who are grieving.

While our departure from this life does not appear to be imminent, it is certain. We know that and accept it. Neither one of us wants to stay in this sinful world forever. We echo the sentiment of St. Paul:  we “desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far…” Philippians 1:23. Because Jesus paid for our sin with His death, and defeated death for us by His resurrection, we will be with Him. We live with that conviction.

The Psalmist also addresses this topic.

Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

By God’s grace, we have been given the wisdom that knows He is our Lord and Savior. We know our eternal life had begun and will get even better once we leave this world. But while we are still here, we intend to make the most of the time we have, enjoying His creation and trying to be a light that shows Jesus to others.

We try to have this attitude daily:

Psalm 118:24 This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.