But how should a life be summarized?
It's the end of one year and the start of another. We naturally reflect and reposition; regret and re-commit; remember and then renew. Perhaps it's a good time to try and strap on a six-word goal.
I even have one we might all consider. It was the six-word summation of the life of David. "...did God's will during his lifetime" (Acts 13:36, NCV).
Can you sum up your life in six words?
To try to do so forces us to contemplate and consider condense what our life means as succintly as possible and therefore makes us think deeply about what our lives means and what we want them to mean. I think it is always a good habit from time to time to think about end of life issues and perhaps what your epitaph might read. This week in worship we talked about the future and what gifts God offeres to us that we often fail to recognize, but which Jesus modelled in his own brief, but very significant life. Will you take the challenge and share you six word life summary with us? Some funny, some serious, and some thought provoking. You will find my own efforts at the end which I hope you will comment on. Blessings, Steve After this year, some of you might say, 'It has been a living hell.' "Well, I thought it was funny." "Hold my beer and watch this" "Maybe you had to be there." Can that really be the time? Bad brakes discovered at high speed I am trying, in every regard Life is too short to hurry. 1 step closer to freedom within Fell down, picked up, moved forward. a good idea at the time Had time, now time has me! Can I have more than six words? Reconciling the then, with the now. Upbeat and forever hopeful!! Life is full of complete emptyness. What do I want to be? Life just does not make sense! Only six words? I want more. Never meant to cause such harm Found who I was looking for Found a reason for dying Life is a gift opened daily I was born, lived and died. Was never able to finish my Risked quite a lot and Wow!! God touched me, never the same again The grass is greener over there! Want it, get it, regret it. Could have. Should have. Still might. There's no future in the past Wondered what it was all about The check is in the mail! Any chance I could start again? Potential yet to be fully realized. Taught to fish, hooked for life! Five hundred channels, and nothing onPastor Steve's Six-Word Life Summaries
Looked within. God was waiting there. Where would I be without God? Without God, Life makes no sense! Christmas is what life's all about I came. I saw. I love. I forged theses chains in life.What's your favorites?
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Life as a marquee!
What a thought-provoking and conversation-creating topic, Pastor Steve!
Perhaps, I would be more correct in saying, “Life as a tombstone,” for truly that is what we should — although most don’t — prepare for from the instant we are born.
Life is a gift. A gift given to be given away — think of Matthew 5:15…”Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.”
Life given as a gift to be given away, but given away with what intention and for what purpose?
WOW! So I’m a candle! Boy, how easy it is to stay hidden! Offering oneself to others is not easy; and, many times, it is not safe. Hurts, very deep hurts, along with much second-guessing occur accompanied by many, many tears and the proverbial questions, “Is it worth it?,” “What am I doing here?,” and “Why am I living?”
Bottom-line — I can’t be a candle without the match. I can’t be ignited without the spark. I can’t show the way if the way is not shown to me.
Where do I turn? Who guides me? What guides me?
We know, don’t we? — God, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and a heart filled with love and a desire to serve.
Will all of these cause me “to step out on that limb, to leave my comfort zone, to crawl out from under that bushel basket”? Yes, if I choose to let them. Will all of these enable me to see that the end is contingent on the Journey? Yes, if I choose to let them. Will all of these enable me to see that the way I live the dash in-between my two dates is what matters in the end? Yes, if I choose to let them. Will all of these ease the hurts and dry the tears when I speak and live with “…the boldness of Peter”? Yes, if I choose to let them.
Will learning from and living a life guided by of all of these enable me to summarize my life into six words? Yes, if I choose to let them.
But, more important than my summarizing my own life into six words and choosing the six words myself, Pastor Steve, I would more prefer and pray that when my dash is complete, that those whose lives my very small candle shone upon would reflect on my existence and then choose to describe me with the same six words that I would write for myself because what and how I lived for God’s glory and what I hoped and wanted to live for God’s glory were the same things.
So…what would those six words be?
Pastor Steve, you gave me some good suggestions.
I was first drawn to “I came. I saw. I loved” because of my background and the quote’s similarity to Caesar’s “I came. I saw. I conquered.” Initially, like I do when I read metaphors, I wondered how this offering was appropriate; but then I realized that this quote, like a metaphor, has a deeper meaning decipherable with extra thought; and soon I realized, that, at least for me, this statement not only is indicative of Christ’s life but it is also a challenge to us to go and see and love those we find, where and how we find them, especially through service, as God would want us to do.
Likewise, I am drawn to your last offering of “I forged these chains in life”; for I, too, have read “The Christmas Carol” and am familiar with Jacob Marley. But, oh my, how I pray that I will not suffer his same fate or the fate of Hamlet’s father.
I also find thought-provoking your second comment about “Christmas is what life’s all about,” for I imagine that many would choose to differ with you saying that Easter with the crucifixion and resurrection is what life is all about. But, when you think about it, it all starts with the beginning and not the end, doesn’t it?
But of your offerings, I must say, if I had to, I would choose the second and third ones — “Where would I be without God?” and “Without God, life makes no sense.”
Believe it or not, for me, at least, it is easier to select those offerings I would NOT use to summarize my life in six words. I definitely would not choose to say, “Hold my beer and watch this!” nor would I choose “Bad brakes discovered at high speed!” nor would I ask, “Can I have more than six words?” nor state, “Life is full of complete emptyness.” Add to those, “Potential yet to be fully realized” and “Could have. Should have. Still might.”
But aren’t you a wise man, Pastor Steve; for in asking us how we would summarize our own lives in six words and offering us suggestions of things we might say, you are asking us to “go further in and further up” and not only look at our own lives and what we consider important; but you are asking us to consider those who, in their lives, would choose to say, “Hold my beer and watch this!” along with, “Life is full of complete emptyness!” “Potential yet to be fully realized!” and “Could have. Should have. Still might.”
And…in reminding us that there are those who live lives according to many of your suggested quotes, you are reminding us, as God implores us in His holy Word, to shine on those lives with our candle and “make disciples” according to His Great Commission and for His glory.
So…my life is a gift given to be given away, not for me and my glory but for God and His.
Oh, that I can be so blessed to do so in the amount of my dash remaining.
So…what six words would I choose to summarize my life and how do I pray that others will eventually describe my dash?
Oh, Pastor Steve, I can’t do it in six words!
But, like you, I can offer several thoughts while wishing that I had the ability on this website to change the font size so that I could better indicate the insignificance I feel about myself when I consider God and “His big picture.”
“Grace-filled, Spirit-lead,” which I immediately adopted as my own when I heard another person say it, would be my first; and in doing so, I am acknowledging what I believe about my life — that I am no more what I am and I do no more than what I do than through the grace of God and the guidance of His Holy Spirit. I am no more than a “broken vessel” filled and used as He so chooses.
My second, which would begin in 8 pt type, would be “One very, very, very small candle, shining forth God’s Light when and where He chooses.” The emphasis with the small type would be on how very, very small I am, how very blessed I am whenever He chooses to use me as His instrument, and again on the fact that I am His and only what I am because of Him.
And, finally, Pastor Steve, with BLESSINGS offered to you also, I, who am characteristically wordy, can, surprisingly enough, in my third and last offering, describe my life in half of your allotted six words:
“He, not me.”
I wanted people to connect with Cesaear’s quote, “I came, I saw, I conquered” and the read the transformation that needs to take place. I came. I saw. I loved. What a difference one word can make in out outlook on life.
Oh, Pastor Steve, how could I have forgotten Matthew 25:23?
These are my six words…
“Well done, good and faithful servant….”
How I long to hear those words!
How about you?
Steve,
Thanks for the challenge. (The stated one-share your summary, and the unstated one-stay connected, via the web. I am soooo non techy)I did enjoy all of your posted summaries, and, like Prince’s Mom, I am drawn to I came.I saw. I love. This speaks to me, because my summary is also about relationships. I can’t begin to summarize my life outside of the relationships I have been blessed to enjoy, without these, my summary wouldn’t even need six words. So my effort is: Friend, wife, mother, eternally a child. Not only does it speak to the importance of relationships to me, but to the constant learning, growing and developing process we are always in as we forge new and refine old relationships. I hope others reply as well-this could get interesting!
Dear Teach K
I like your progression of relationships but also the idea that underneath it all, is childlike innocence. Mary Secoy once told me that she felt like a 16 year old school girl stuck in an 83 year old body. I think her life reflected that and she found joy in people and every circumstance. I think you do to. You are the eternal optimist and believe the best is yet to come. Thanks for sharing.
Lived well. Laughed much. Fished often.
When I read the one that said,
Taught to fish, hooked for life.
I thought of you. Not only with fly fishing but with you dedication to people, faith, and God. When you believe something, you really get hooked and give it all you’ve got.
One that I heard yesterday was..
Thought I knew. Didn’t know squat!
OK. Here’s one I heard all the time. “I’ll be with you in spirit.” I love it….people mean well but it means nothing. I’ll think of my own and let you know about it later.
Here’s one I heard the other day: “They were right, I’m an idiot”
Or how about this one for a life statement: “God is good, all the time”
I definitely agree with the latter. How amazing though that so many of us are fair-weather Christians and only see and choose to believe the truth of that statement when life is wonderful. How unfortunate that we can’t and choose not to see His mercy, goodness, and love in the midst of the bad times as well as in the good ones.
Although I am guilty of thinking the former so often about myself, I find fault with it because to call ourselves an idiot not only demeans ourselves but also the intelligence of God, who created each of us uniquely as we are and for a specific purpose. Don’t think God likes being called an idiot, so we should stop calling both ourselves and others one.
And when given the chance, we should take it upon ourselves, for His sake, to minister to those who feel as the quote suggests and remind them that it doesn’t matter what others think about you; what matters is that God created you for a purpose, you are not a mistake, and God loves you; for “He is good, all the time.”
I got one, Master Steve.
“I am a child of God.”
How great would it be to have these be the last words you ever spoke in this life?
Thanks,
steve
So this is how it’s gonna go.
My tombstone will say:
“Hey Master Steve, I made it!”
6 words:]
How about this one instead,
Well, what took you so long?
What a wild right that was!