Dogs and Funerals....Happy New Years!

My good friend Janci came to spend New Years with me (yay!) and we went to see the new movie "Marley & Me" tonight.  I definitely recommend the movie; it was funny and sweet, but beware: the movie makes you want a dog. Animals are overrated, though.  I love animals (especially dogs) and always have.  Like I said, I happen to want a dog.  However, after seeing commercials inquiring viewers to sponsor a pet for $9.99/month, I get enraged.  Children, men and women with lost souls are dying in every country across the map.  Let me consider my priorities here: do I want my money to pay for a dog to get its shots or for an orphan child who hasn't eaten or heard the Gospel to get food and hear about Jesus?  Should I care more about homeless pets or homeless children?  It almost seems as if our society makes the two equal!  Now, don't get me wrong.  Animals are God's creation and He asked us to take care of them.  We should not mistreat animals, but we shouldn't put their needs above a human's needs, either. 

So, I went to a funeral today (well, it was technically yesterday).  It was for a man in my church who had cancer and I, unfortunately, didn't know him too well.  They asked for the church choir to sing at his funeral.  I haven't been to a funeral in awhile.  I realized that there may come a time when I, like many of the people in the congregation at the funeral today, am at the point where most of my peers are dead or dying.  How different will that Jeni be than the Jeni that I know today? Hopefully she will be wiser, more patient, slower to speak, quicker to listen and have a closer walk with Jesus.  Will anyone show up for my funeral?  Will they come out of obligation or out of sincere compassion?  What will be said at my funeral?  I asked myself that today, while I listened to our youth minister talk about the man's faithful life and watched loved ones mourn for their loss.  Will they say that I've been a good friend? a good neighbor? a good sister? a good daughter? a good wife? a good mother?  I hope to be known as a missionary for God, but since I'm pretty sure that's not what they would say if my funeral were this week, doesn't something about me need to change?  What if my funeral is this week? If I knew I were dying, would that change how I live today?  Would I put down the tv remote and pick up my Bible?  What have I really done in my 25 years on this planet?  It's 2009 and I'm not sure where the years went.  Time does seem to go faster as I get older. It seems like yesterday I was playing in our back yard with my sister and now she is married, pregnant, and a home-owner. What will have happened the next time I blink and open my eyes?  It really seems that I go through life with my eyes half closed.  When I spend countless hours worrying, watching television, and disobeying God (consciously and unconsciously), is it any wonder?  The real question is, will I make any actual lifestyle changes because of this 'lesson'? We talk about resolutions....will 2009 be any different than 2008 or will I be regurgitating this fact for years to come, until it is too late???

King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said,

13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (Ecclesiastes 1:13-14)

Maybe, then, I should devote myself wholeheartedly to glorifying God, the one thing that I can do that reaches beyond 'under the sun.'

Happy NEW Year! and thanks to God for giving me a fresh start every morning.