Your Dash

Ezekiel 37:1-10 was the  Bible study two weeks ago.  The question posed to the Men's Friday Morning Bible Study was what do you think of when you are in a cemetery?  That popped into my head again as I walked Wednesday with Mom and Dad in the Muhall, OK cemetery where the Wisner family headstone lies.  Eight plots total with six already reserved or taken - Two for Great Grandpa and Grandma Wisner; two for Grandma and Grandpa Wisner and two for Mom and Dad.

A beautiful sunny day,  the cemetery sits on the hillside overlooking the rural farms of Muhall, Oklahoma.  A pleasant view and the wind blows hard across the rolling hillside.  There is not much talking when you walk through a cemetery and I pondered on all the stories each generation contained.  The headstones had a begin date and the end date and between is the dash (the story and journey).  There sat Mom and Dad's headstones with the begin date and a dash.

How you walk in a cemetery is a challenge - are you walking on top of a grave?  How was the grave positioned - east to west?  Who are you buried next to - your permanent neighbor?  How many years accumulated in this cemetery?

My mind raced with the feeling of how time marches on -  eroding everything in it's path. No turning back, no slowing it down, history is but a second away.  Your dash getting closer to the end date. And  then a new generation walking on top of your dates and dash - reflecting on their own date and dash.