When It All Boils Down...

"... and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." - Micah 6:8

This past October 26, I attended the funeral of a man, a dear man, from our church. He was our head elder. He was the kind face and the welcoming handshake every Sunday morning as we entered the sanctuary. Walter was just shy of ninety years old, but a more dedicated and faithful servant there could not have been. He was the first to arrive and the last to leave. His service to the Lord was an important and integral part of his life... of who he was.

Walter was also a veteran. He served in the military for twenty-two years before retiring. He fought in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and received two purple hearts for being injured in each. He went to work for the postal service after that, and, upon his retirement there, began volunteering with the Wounded Warriors program. He also served as an officer in the Alamo Chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

I tell you this simply that you might understand what kind of man he was... a devout Christian, a loyal patriot, a dedicated family man.

At his funeral there were a number of people wearing special face masks that had been made and provided for those participating in and attending his service. Standing out in stark contrast to the black background were two symbols, a white cross and a purple heart. I thought about those two images... the entirety of a man's life, boiled down to two symbols. It struck me that in so doing, Walter's life had been described in the most accurate and acute way. As my pastor always encourages us in his sermons, Walter did. He lived life vertically, in communion and relationship with his God first and foremost... and because of that, he also lived life horizontally, in communion and relationship with others. Commitment and service were woven into each.

These symbols gave me pause, pause to give thought to my own life. When all is said and done for me, what will my life have boiled down to? What two symbols could so succinctly and so adequately report the fullness of my days?

I profess to be a Christian. Do my actions show that clearly and indisputably? Would people know that about me even if no symbol were present? I would hope so. I pray so. Actions should always speak louder than words. But sometimes my actions fail. When that happens, the cross figures even more prominently into the picture. I am a forgiven and redeemed child of God. He calls me by name. I am His own.

That mark, His fingerprints on me, come with great responsibility... not to live a perfect life, which I in no way could ever begin to do, but to strive to please Him, to try my best to walk in His footsteps, and to give Him glory and honor in all I do. I live in the shower of His mercy and grace. That. That brings me to the second symbol. How am I living out my commitment to Christ in my daily life? How does my love for my Lord manifest itself in my daily walk?

I never really gave much thought to this question before. I've just been busy doing life, moving in and out of each day with a rhythm that's steady and familiar. I haven't given weight to the intentionality of it all... or the lack thereof. Seeing that mask, so lovingly designed, so perfectly descriptive of the man for whom it represented, has made me feel like trying to define my own existence.

The thing is... past the cross, I'm not sure I can. I think ultimately, the symbol standing in the shadow of that cross can only be determined by the people whose lives intertwine with mine. The people I have known and loved and served and have been committed to... these are the ones who will remember whatever it is or was about me that touched their hearts and their memories poignantly enough to attach to it a word... or a symbol.

What God expects of me is the same thing God expected of Walter. To live my life unapologetically for Him, to let everything that is in me bless His holy name. To serve Him... and in so doing, to serve my fellow man. When it comes right down to it, the only symbol that really counts is the first. The cross defines, describes, and determines everything else that follows. Giving priority and import to the first means that the second will take care of itself.

I needn't try to determine that for myself. There is only one thing needful, to walk humbly with my God. If I can do that, and can continue to live my life serving faithfully wherever He places me, I will move through my days with rhythm and familiarity, leaving behind a mark I didn't even know existed... His mark.

... and when it all boils down, isn't that the absolute best thing to remain?