Flesh&Stone Sing

“I don’t want anybody buying up my life’s work and

turning it intosomething it wasn’t meant to be. 

A man wants to leave something behind.

And he wants it left behind the way he made it.”

Bill Parish, Meet Joe Black.

 

At this juncture I would like to break from considering life directly. Take a moment, a brief breath held second or two, and think about the weight of life. What is left behind. When all is said and done, poems have been written, songs have been sung, love loved and life lived. Of what is man made? What is our legacy? 

 

We all leave a stamp, an imprint, a trace of life like a footprint showing where we have walked and danced. We all want to be remembered, with fondness maybe, a soft glow, a desire to imitate, perhaps we even want people to remember how we shook the world. And we all know people who have left their mark, not just the great historical figures who loom from the pages of books or haunt from the past like a great shadow. But those who we have known, family maybe, good friends old and fine like wine, who have carved our hearts like roads a man walks, laying the next bricks before our feet. They often never even knew what were doing as they gave us their heritage.

 

What is the measure of a life well lived?

 

To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less. “

 

When John’s followers left, Jesus began talking to the people about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed blown by the wind? What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, people who have fine clothes and much wealth live in kings’ palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, and I tell you, John is more than a prophet. This was written about him:
    ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, 
     who will prepare the way for you.’ — Malachi 3:1
I tell you, John is greater than any other person ever born, but even the least important person in the kingdom of God is greater than John.”

 

John claimed that he was a friend of the bridegroom, one who attends him, waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice.

Jesus held John in great admiration, God held John in great admiration. When discussion about John breaks out, Jesus is quick to lay out why he was a great man. He takes great care to point out that the reason John attracted such attention was not because of the show he put on, how he dressed himself up in finery and tickled the people’s ears with fairytales or small words. He was not blown by the winds of societies opinion, he was not distracted into pride. He was faithful to the message and prophecy given to him by God, breathed into the core of his being by divine wind.

 

John left little behind that would stand as great legacy in the world’s eyes. But he left behind that which brought delight to the eyes of God. Faithfulness, patience, fiery passion, and love.

He was a friend of the bridegroom. What a legacy to leave behind. Yes, John turned hearts. As he walked through the wilderness the hearts of children were turned to fathers and fathers to children. Hearts were  turned to Jesus as messiah, disciples who would follow him. But John’s joy was found in this, he heard the voice of the bridegroom.

 

Jesus tells the tale of a faithful servant to whom he says:  

‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

 I imagine he will say this to John, and my desire is that he would say it to me.

 

There is a point at the end of the film ‘Meet Joe Black’ where Bill Parrish gets up on the stage of his 65th birthday. The sky above swollen with stars and the white of his shirt glancing under the moon and stage lights, he is cajoled before a microphone. He is about to die, and more than this, he has the priviledge so few of us are ever granted, he knows he is about to die. In one moment he sees his past like a great tapestry, grains of sand falling slowly through time in a boulevard of faces and cities, treasures and regrets, love and love lost. He sees his life in its near entirety, short but a few precious minutes and a last dance with his daughter. He reaches up to the ornate cake, lays his hands either side of the table, and blows the single candle out. Then he speaks.

 

“What a glorious night, every face I see is a memory.  It may not be a perfectly perfect memory
 sometimes we had our ups and downs– but we’re all together, and you’re mine for a night.
And I’m going to break precedent, and tell you my one-candle wish…

that you would have a life as lucky as mine, where you can wake up one morning and say

“I don’t want anything more. I have no regrets.”

Sixty-five years - don’t they go by in a blink?”

 

What does it mean to live a life without regret?

I do not think Bill Parrish lived a life without mistakes. In fact, I do not consider Bill Parrish to be a role model for the perfect legacy, far from it, after all, he is only a film character.

But I would like, no, I aspire to stand at the final moment, when time and history role up like a great scroll, and say I have no regrets. Many, many mistakes, yes. But covered, and recovered by Jesus.

I would like to stand before my saviour, and with tear strewn face, have him turn to me and call me friend, and faithful. I would like to leave a legacy of hearts turned by the love of God through my hands. That on the day I leave, many would weep with joy and loss, that they would praise God for what he had done with a fool like me. But mostly, what I desire, is that one person, one face, His face, would look on me and smile.

 

I invite you to consider your legacy.

What will men say of you? Were you a reed blown in the wind? Or did you stand faithful, waiting to hear the bridegroom’s voice, the friend you long to see.

Choose a life well lived.

In: Uncategorized | | #