In my work in hospice, I am periodically in nursing facilities of varying degrees of accommodations. Some are lavish with plush carpet, mahogany banisters, and the scent of fresh flowers. And others smell of urine, have chipped tiled floors and walls that are painted institutional green.The patients in these facilities have often exchanged their business suits and uniforms for hospital gowns, …and their BMW’s and bus passes for wheelchairs.Some may have been CEO’s of big companiesand others might have been janitors, housewives, or musicians. But whatever their vocation, education, or social status was, by the time they get to the end of their life, what they have left is their spirit, that intangible piece of their being that makes up the essence of who they are.
I have seen patients whose mental faculties were so debilitated by Alzheimer’s that they didn’t know their own reflection in a mirror, yet sweetness and gentleness emanated from them. And I have also seen patients that were just as demented that reeked of bitterness and hatred.
So, in my admittedly very limited scope of knowledge, what I have discovered is that people die how they lived.
If they were kind in life, they are kind in death.
If they were malicious in life, they are often malicious in death.
If they were fearful in life, they are fearful in death.
If they were selfish in life, they are selfish in death.
If they were considerate in life, they are considerate in death.
The question becomes, what kind of person do I want to be? If, today, all of my filters and guards were stripped away, and the world could look inside my thought life, my inner reactions/actions what would that reveal about me? And what would it reveal about you?
Let’s talk about it…
Proverbs 4:23 “Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it comes the issues of life.”
Proverbs 20:11 “Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right”