Funerals and Things We Honor…

On Good Friday, my mother-in-law, Eleanor Crawford was laid to her final rest. During her ninety-six years, she lived a life of service to God and her fellow man. It was a celebratory time, in which great honor, rightfully so, was placed upon her. What a blessing to be able to truthfully extol honor on someone for a life well lived.  James tells us in the fifth chapter, eleventh verses (MSG)

Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You’ve heard, of course, of Job’s staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.

It goes without saying that we should honor those who have lived a life of honor and faithfulness to God. Why do we do it? I think the major reason is that we know how hard it is to continue to do good, when temptations, suffering, fear and even complacency are such strong forces pulling us away from honoring God. To consistently choose to do the right thing and then have the tenacity to withstand the consequences of doing the right thing, is huge! Yet the dividends for "staying the course" and having the Job kind of "staying power" is the abundant life.

Eleanor Crawford lived 96 years and she had her share of trials and tribulations. However as the powerful song often sung at finals goes:

 I Won’t Complain, Rev. Paul Jones 

[Verse1:]
I’ve had some good days
I’ve had some hills to climb
I’ve had some weary days
And some sleepless nights
But when I look around
And I think things over
All of my good days
Out-weigh my bad days
I won’t complain

source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/r/revpauljoneslyrics/iwontcomplainlyrics.html

Indeed, all of her good days, far outweighed her bad days, not just in this life, but every day will be a glory day where she will have an eternity to praise Her KIng!

Maria