I found myself at a friend’s funeral the other day. Not a good friend, but a friend. We weren’t childhood playmates, or high school study partners, or college roommates. We played high school football together but he was a few years younger than me and upper classman rarely pay much mind to fledging sophomores. I admired him mostly from afar, but I always admired him. A few years later when he came through rush at my collegiate fraternity, I was sure to take him under my wing. He didn’t stick with the fraternal life but I would see him from time to time and I was always greeted with respect and grace. I liked him, he was a good young man and when I heard of his tragic death I had to go and pay my respect.

As I sat there in the funeral hall feeling the weight of death come too soon, listening to the organist play “Jesus I my Cross Have Taken,” and watching the mourners take their seats, I began think of my own funeral and who may come. Had my friend listed people that might show up to his funeral I am quite sure that my name would not have made the list. I hope he enjoyed the short moments we spent together in life, but I doubt he ever knew the impact that those quiet passings had left on my life. I can’t put my finger on it, what it is was that meant so much to me, just a life that touched another life.

We may never know the mark that we will leave on people with our lives or the extent of our influence on this earth. We can’t control what might happen to us in ten years or even this afternoon. But we do know that every day the Lord puts people in our way and how we treat them is one thing we can control.

Christ Jesus our Lord was once asked what was the greatest decree of the Almighty God. He responded, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. …and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” He was asked for one decree, one most high law, one superlative; yet he gave two. It is almost as if Jesus was saying, if you want to love God, you must love others. I pray we would learn to treat each with this in mind. Realizing that with each passing word and simple conversation we honor the living God and may be leaving an eternal mark on someone we barely know.