FW: The Dash

By Mary Jeppson

      Those of you who have email accounts may recognize the title. A forward from someone you know. I receive many and only read a few. However, a couple of months ago a niece sent me an email entitled “The Dash”. I decided to click on it and see what the dash was. It was a video set to music with beautiful pictures and a poem written across the pictures. I discovered this email was worth reading.

The Dash

by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.  He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning to the end.

 

He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears.  But he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

 

For the dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth and now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.

 

For it not matters how much we own…the cars…the house…the cash.  What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

 

So think about this long and hard; are there thing you’d like to change?  For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.

 

If we could just slow down enough to consider what’s true and real…and always try to understand the way other people feel.

 

And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives…like we’ve never loved before.

 

If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile…remembering that this special dash might only last a little while. 

 

So when your eulogy is being read…with your life’s actions to rehash.  Would you be proud of the things they say…about how you spent your dash?

 

      We are in the first month of the new calendar year and the time we all make resolutions. Is there anything in your life that needs to be rearranged?  Are you ready to turn your life over to God with complete trust? Do you need to work on forgiving someone or asking for their forgiveness?  Are you spending enough time in prayer and growing spiritually? Are you who God wants you to be?  What’s in your dash?