Epitaph of the Living Man

"All, all are sleeping on the hill." -Edgar Lee Masters, Spoon River Anthology

Throughout my young life, I've heard many speeches on "the dash." You know, the dash on a headstone, the one that sits right between your birthday and the day you kicked the bucket? That one. Let's be honest, the last thing you look at on someone's grave is a dash. And yet, I've heard many people speak on it. More often than not, the thing that sticks out is the epitaph. Whether it be "loving husband and father" or "never forgotten" or some such thing, you notice that more than any other thing on the headstone.

Then it comes to me. What about my epitaph? What do I want it to be? To be quite honest, I still don't know if I want to be buried or cremated, so I might not even have one. Author Hunter S. Thompson was cremated and had his ashes shot out of a cannon. I found that rather amusing (this after he committed suicide out of boredom, which I still don't really understand). "Radical atheist" Douglas Adams (of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame) was buried and a memorial service was held in his honor at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square. I found that rather ironic. So what's the point? Well, first of all, I just like that useless information and second of all, I don't think I have one. Except maybe that epitaphs are pointless. Think about this: On your grave is your whole life summed up in one sentence. One sentence? That's it?

Personally, I don't want my life summed up in one sentence after I'm dead. So starting right now, my epitaph is being written, not in words, but with my life. The way I figure it, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20 ESV). My life can't be summed up in one sentence at one point where my earthly life ends. My epitaph is being written every day by God's hand, in the blood of Christ, with the pen of my life.