EDIM 28 - Memorial Day
Wandering amongst tombstones can give one a feeling of morbid melancholy, but it seems appropriately alright given the day. Much as I admire and respect those participants of grim war, it's not so easy anymore to relate and understand what they did. Even the black and white documentaries filmed with over-eager cameramen causing comically quick scenes, fail to really sink in. These dudes really did that stuff. Pretty insane.
I also couldn't contain the curiosity to ogle over different tombstones. Styles, shapes, stone types. Mostly granite, but some bronze hatch covers and marble as well. Mostly granite though. That stuff is spendy too. It's one thing to contemplate the excess of a granite kitchen counter when another type of tile or stone will suffice... it's something else entirely in a graveyard. I wouldn't rush to criticize the use of granite as too expensive for use as tombstone markers, the stuff lasts forever. But I did pause in my steps for considerable time. What is that I want to leave behind as a reminder of my existence? Do I care? Might I care eventually, and for what purpose would I?
Even that might not have crossed my mine were it not for the sheer immensity of some of the tombstones, the ones to cause a pause in my step. Consider the aforementioned granite kitchen counter or tabletop. Perhaps an inch, inch and a half thick? Takes two men to carry and costs eight-hundred to twelve-hundred or so? Well I paused beside a monolith in height equal to my chest, a foot thick, and four feet long. That's not to mention the base of similar proportion it sat on. I wouldn't be surprised if the thing cost ten thousand dollars.
What kind of marker do I want to leave behind, and what kind of marker might someone leave behind for me? After happening past a weather-worn, moss-encrusted relic a good century and a half in age, being remembered via graveyard visits stood out as unappealing. Let my marker be the barn I helped raise, the letters I wrote, the souls I touched, the ways in which God used me. Of physical markers desired by family, a simple plaque is entirely sufficient.
Such morbid mulling. I did happen to pass a marker with the name of someone who seemed rightly in place, owning the last name of "Grave". Another plaque bore the details of a man with rankings held in both world wars (I think it was pvt and sgt), death in 1971. It seemed a vastly understated marker to me.
A good day in all though, it seems these verses are appropriate to end with.
Philippians 1:21-25, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your joy and progress in the faith,"
Genesis 3:19, "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
Gungor - Beautiful Things (a beautiful song for the day)
I also couldn't contain the curiosity to ogle over different tombstones. Styles, shapes, stone types. Mostly granite, but some bronze hatch covers and marble as well. Mostly granite though. That stuff is spendy too. It's one thing to contemplate the excess of a granite kitchen counter when another type of tile or stone will suffice... it's something else entirely in a graveyard. I wouldn't rush to criticize the use of granite as too expensive for use as tombstone markers, the stuff lasts forever. But I did pause in my steps for considerable time. What is that I want to leave behind as a reminder of my existence? Do I care? Might I care eventually, and for what purpose would I?
Even that might not have crossed my mine were it not for the sheer immensity of some of the tombstones, the ones to cause a pause in my step. Consider the aforementioned granite kitchen counter or tabletop. Perhaps an inch, inch and a half thick? Takes two men to carry and costs eight-hundred to twelve-hundred or so? Well I paused beside a monolith in height equal to my chest, a foot thick, and four feet long. That's not to mention the base of similar proportion it sat on. I wouldn't be surprised if the thing cost ten thousand dollars.
What kind of marker do I want to leave behind, and what kind of marker might someone leave behind for me? After happening past a weather-worn, moss-encrusted relic a good century and a half in age, being remembered via graveyard visits stood out as unappealing. Let my marker be the barn I helped raise, the letters I wrote, the souls I touched, the ways in which God used me. Of physical markers desired by family, a simple plaque is entirely sufficient.
Such morbid mulling. I did happen to pass a marker with the name of someone who seemed rightly in place, owning the last name of "Grave". Another plaque bore the details of a man with rankings held in both world wars (I think it was pvt and sgt), death in 1971. It seemed a vastly understated marker to me.
A good day in all though, it seems these verses are appropriate to end with.
Philippians 1:21-25, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your joy and progress in the faith,"
Genesis 3:19, "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
Gungor - Beautiful Things (a beautiful song for the day)
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