“You can have money piled to the ceiling but the size of your funeral is still going to depend on the weather.”  Chuck Tanner

How many will cry at your funeral?

So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other garments Dorcas had made for them.  (Acts 9:39; NLT)

One of my favorite books is Jeff Olson’s The Slight Edge: Secret to a $uccessful Life.  While I’m confessing, I might as well confess that I have engaged in a life-long struggle about being overly concerned regarding what other people think of me.  There have been a number of things that have contributed to my acquiring the level of freedom I have from that debilitating concern, including Olson’s book.

In that book, he relates the experience of reading a magazine article (he doesn’t give the source) wherein he learned that at the average funeral, about ten people cry.  Olson muses, “That’s it?  You mean I go through my entire life, spend years going through all these trials and tribulations and achievements and joys and heartbreaks–and at the end of it, there are only ten people who care enough to cry??

The article apparently went on to say that of those attending the funeral, the number one factor that would determine how many would go from the funeral to the actual burial would be…you guessed it…the weather!  Olson relates his thought process upon reading that grim little statistic.  “You mean, I’m lying there, at the grand conclusion of everything I’ve ever said and done, of everything I call my life, in those final moments when my entire life is called to account and acknowledged and memorialized by those nearest and dearest to me, those whose lives I’ve most deeply and profoundly touched…and half the congregation checks out halfway through because of the weather?!”

“You know what?  I don’t give a [expletive deleted] what anybody thinks of what I’m doing any more.  If the odds are that iffy as to whether or not they even cry at my funeral, and chances are fifty-fifty that they duck out anyway before I’m planted if the sky happens to cry for me more than the people do…then why am I spending so much time worrying about what they’re thinking now?”

Kind of sobering, isn’t it?  You know, we tend to spend so much time worrying about what the other person thinks about us, when in reality, they’re probably not even thinking about us anyway.  And if they are, it’s probably to wonder what we are thinking about them.  Man!  Where does all this garbage come from, anyway?

In looking for something on the Internet to put with this I found a great blog post that I believe you’ll find very interesting (and helpful) as well.  So, go in peace.  There’s only One person you need to be concerned about satisfying with your behavior and life accomplishments.  And the truth is…He loves you unconditionally!

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank You for Your unconditional love and Your amazing grace.  Help us to be ever mindful of what You’ve called us to do rather than what we think others would find acceptable.

Link of the Day
What Others Think of You is None of Your Business!

Blessings on you as you begin marching to your own drummer.

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