First Baptist Church of Herndon

Starting at the end

Linda Soller | Jan 27, 2014

How would you respond if someone told you to write your life story? Would you say, “I can’t, it isn’t over, I’ve lots of living left to do?” That would be a natural response. What if they told you to write your life story starting at the end? Sound strange? Take a minute and think about it.  

Who doesn’t want to imagine that when they are gone from their current location, current job, or even from the living, that they will be missed? I think everyone would like to think that people will speak well of them, that they are making a difference, and that people will feel the world is a better place because they lived. You don’t have to impact a lot of people to have a lot of impact.

At our last Chapter Four meeting we were given a prompt and asked to write the end of the story. It was actually a refreshing way to look at things. In January the Drop-In Class has been talking about spiritual fitness and setting goals. Setting goals is a lot like writing a story from the end. In both cases you decide what you want the end result to be and then you figure out how to get there.

When my father passed it meant so much to hear the stories and memories of those people whose lives he had touched. I don’t believe for a second that cancer was how he would have written his story. I am pretty certain he would have wanted to leave this world while on the golf course or sitting in front of the TV watching his college’s football team play – no win! Then again, I think he would’ve been overwhelmed by the love shown by others when he passed. I do believe he wanted to make a difference and wanted his story, his legacy if you will, to be that of a person who made life better for other people.

We can go through day after day just getting from point “A” to point “B” or we can live life with intention.  You know people who make things happen; who seem to be moving in a positive direction. It is not that they can’t relax, or have fun, or even change direction now and then. They just seem to see the possibilities instead of the limitations. We may not know what the final scene of our life will be, but we can decide how we want to be remembered. By considering the end of our story we can write the chapters that get us there.

If someone told you to write your life story and start at the end, how would your story go?

Have a great week!  :o)    Linda