Your heavenly footprint
Leave a footprint of faith and love, not of vanity.
The reality of finitude
As you reach my age, you become aware that the larger part of your life is behind you. It’s not something I dwell on daily, but in unexpected moments, the question still arises: How much time do I have left?
Today, we were with friends. He is a widower, she a widow. After a number of years, they found each other and a new love blossomed—something neither of them had expected. It just happens, and how beautiful is that? Both have a history of grief, but their lives have found new luster.
When I read the newspaper, I inevitably end up on the last pages with the obituaries. I read the texts, looking for familiar names. Then I see their birthdates and think: that’s my birth year, or for another: I’ve already passed that age.
A story of friendship and loss
In the final year before my retirement, a colleague would come to my office every morning after the students were settled to chat over a cup of coffee. We were going to enjoy our early retirement together at the end of the school year. He was a preacher and, like me, had a desire to continue sharing the message of our Lord for many years in the congregations he visited.
He had his standard joke: “Wim, only eighty-eight days, five hours, and twelve minutes, and then we’re free. Then we won’t have to anymore.” That last part wasn’t my sentiment, as I was perfectly content. But after so many years, I felt it was enough for me too, and it was time for the younger generation to take over.
Sadly, my friend and colleague only lived for three years after being struck by a deadly illness. Fourteen years later, I realize: I have so much to be thankful for. And that is my prayer of thanks every single day.
The inevitable truth
We’d rather not talk about death. But at your funeral, they all come. Some even take time off work; they skip an important meeting, just for you! For one last farewell and a final meeting, only no longer in the flesh.
You know what’s so strange? We also discussed this with our friends: the world just keeps turning, as if nothing happened. Your real friends shed some tears, I am certain of that. For a few days, they are completely devastated. But within a week, they’re already laughing at a joke on television.
Something else I’ve noticed lately is that the well-known names from the past in our churches are no longer known at all. The speakers whose every word I hung on, who remembers them now? The same goes for politics: Lubbers, who is that? Van Agt or Den Uyl, never heard of them. In a few years, our names will be forgotten too, except by our closest family.
What do you truly leave behind?
People who don’t believe in the afterlife say: “You live on in the memories of your loved ones.” But I know nothing about my grandfathers who died before I was born. So that saying doesn’t even apply to me.
A famous quote from the Bible, “Everything is vanity,” from the book of Ecclesiastes, is a life wisdom that speaks to the transience of all things. The Preacher reflected deeply on the meaning of life. Even with his internationally renowned wisdom and wealth, King Solomon arrives at this conclusion. He indicates that everything people pursue—wealth, power, pleasure, knowledge—is ultimately empty and meaningless because life is short and death is inevitable.
The value of your heavenly footprint
There is a line in a well-known song from the evangelical songbooks that says: “Nothing here is lasting, nothing here is lasting, everything, however beautiful, will one day pass away; but what was done out of love for Jesus, that holds its value and will remain.”
With an eye toward eternity, knowledge and wealth, prestige and power are unimportant. The eternal treasures—your heavenly footprint—far surpass them. The term “footprint” is often used today in relation to your impact on the climate. If you fly a lot, you have a significant footprint to the detriment of the climate. But let’s worry about our heavenly footprint for a change. What have we done out of love for our neighbor, care for our fellow human beings, and honoring God? The Bible says that is our ultimate purpose.
The same book of Ecclesiastes ends in the final chapter with: “…for man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets…and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” That is our ultimate destiny, our future after a life on earth, full of great joy and gratitude, but also of deep sorrow and loneliness.
Or as someone once put it: “That is my last bed: I lie in it, but I never wake up again.” Yes, that is certainly true on earth, but you open your eyes in another place. On a gravestone, I saw the phrase: “This is not an end. This is a beginning of a new beginning.” In those words, hope rings through.
Loss without comfort
The other day, I read an article about the well-known singer-songwriter Douwe Bob. In a conversation, he indicated that he struggles with the loss of his deceased son Gabriel and said: “I don’t want to process it.” He also stated in that conversation: “Because I am not a believer myself, I find it extra difficult to find comfort in this loss.” Douwe Bob would have preferred the conviction that his son still lives on somewhere, but he doesn’t see it that way. “And that makes such a loss so hard.” How I wish this man the comfort that our Lord can give people in such a great loss, especially of a young child.
The question to yourself
But back to our heavenly footprint for a moment. Do you dare to ask yourself the question: what does my heavenly footprint look like? What do I have to say about my life when I look back?
In one translation of the Bible, it is described this way: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Corinthians 5:10).
You shouldn’t associate this with fear and punishment, because it has a very different meaning. The Greek word for judgment seat is ‘bema’, a platform where winners received their prizes at the Greek games. This gives a different picture than many think. It is a reward judgment, and not a judgment that leads to condemnation. Your heavenly footprint is shown. Even all the good things you have done in secret—your prayer for another, the help you gave without anyone noticing—are noted by the Highest Authority.
Reflection and mediation
What is the impression I leave behind in this world, with the people around me, with my wife and children, and with my colleagues and fellow believers? Have I been an example? Have I been a good father and husband? I know that all of us, but certainly I, have fallen short often enough in everything that was expected of us. But still…
I know I am loved, and when my last moment arrives, I know I don’t have to be afraid of that Judgment Seat. For I have an advocate, a Mediator, a heavenly Lawyer: the Lord into whose hands I laid my life many years ago.
@wimvanputten