What do you want on your tombstone?

It's such a cliche' thing to say, but if you are reading this post then I guess I got your attention. :)

I was thinking about this topic yesterday after driving over to the Cave Hill Cemetery to clear my head and get some perspective. Walking around in the quiet of a beautiful cemetery has a tranquilizing effect on me for some reason... something about being faced with the reality of mortality does that to a person. Things that seemed so important and eternally difficult suddenly come into perspective. It's like someone puts a pair of glasses on your nose after you have been seeing everything blurry and distorted.


As I walked around the cemetery and reading different monuments and tombstones, I began to wonder about the people who are buried there. The grave stones that I was most intrigued by were those who seemed to convey a strong faith in God and a desire to see God glorified even in their death. Two particular stones always moves me to tears and wrench my heart (unfortunately I do not have a picture of either yet). They both are almost identical, except that one is a man and the other is a woman.
The statue is of a person who is unable to stand, and seems to be about to fall off into a large abyss. The only thing they are gripping on to for dear life is... a cross. Inscribed in both of these stones are the words, "Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to they cross I cling."

What a testimony, if indeed they had lived in this way: clinging to the cross for dear life, recognizing that grace is all that holds them and not by anything that their own hands could offer. Every time I see those grave stones I think, "What would my tombstone say, if it were based on the way I live my life now?"

With this thought still mulling in my brain, I decided to search the web for other epitaphs from people who had passed. I found several humorous ones:

In Ruidoso, NM:
"Here lies Johnny Yeast
Pardon me for not rising."

On a grave in East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia:
"Here lies Ezekial Aikle
Age 102
The Good Die Young."

"Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York
Born 1903 - Died 1943
Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the car
Was on the way down. It was."

In Lincoln, ME:
"Sacred to the memory of Jared Bates,
Who died Aug. the 6th, 1800.
His widow, aged 24, lives at 7 Elm Street,
Has every qualification for a good wife,
And longs to be comforted."

I stumbled across others who were meant to be humorous, but I thought were poignant and sometimes saddening - a long lasting testimony of the person buried there:

In Oconto Falls, WI:
"Here lies the body of a man who died
Nobody Mourned - Nobody Cried
How He Lived - How He Fared
Nobody Knows - Nobody Cared"

"Here lies my wife
Here let her lie
Now she has peace
And so do I."

"Here lies the body of Mary Devoe
Wife of Henry Devoe
Tears cannot bring her back
Therefore I weep."

In Hookstown, PA:
"Hi!
Stay High
Bye!"
(Tombstone had an etching of a marijuana plant on it.)

In Hatfield, Massachusetts:
- ARABELLA YOUNG - 1771 -
"Here lies as silent clay
Miss Arabella Young.
Who on the 21st of May,
Began to hold her tongue."

In Falkirk, Scotland:
"-- Solomon Pease --
Here under this sod, and under these trees
Is buried the body of Solomon Pease
But here in this hole lies only the pod,
His soul is shelled out, and gone up to God."

What will people remember most about you when your body expires? Will they remember someone who sought to live every moment clinging to the cross and trusting the Lord completely with one's life? Will they remember you as one who lived to serve others and sought to love others fiercely? Will they remember you as one who always had a chip on the shoulder, bitter and sharp tongued, and selfish? Will they remember you at all?

What do you want on your tombstone?