There are many times in life when God will humble you, this was one of them.

Our Memorial Day was shaping up, marinated rib-eyes, some landscaping,  general nothingness and then my mom called.  As a child we would make the trip to Columbia, MO almost every year.  Honestly, I never truly grasped the complete reason but I always looked forward to staying in the Drury Inn, swimming, and causing general trouble all around.  Some years my parents would attend a ball and dance the night away, others we would visit my mothers friends and acquaintances in the area.  Every year we would make our way over to Memorial cemetery and place flowers on two graves; Alton (A.J.) and Julia Patton my grandparents.  Unfortunately, they passed on before I was born so all I know of them are based in stories from my mom.  This year we passed on this tradition to my children and it was humbling to say the least.  Though they may not grasp what has happened a baton was passed and a new generation was given responsibility to understand and remember.

As we entered the graveyard my daughter immediately began asking questions:

• What is this place? A place where people who have died are buried.
• Why were they buried? It’s a tradition that we practice that reflects God when He buried his servants (Deuteronomy 34:6) and one day these bodies will be resurrected to be with Jesus [if they loved and followed Him] (1 Corinthians 15:42)!
• Will Jesus have to learn all of our names?  No, babydoll He already knows them.  As a matter of fact he knew your name before mommy and daddy did.
• So will you be buried here? Well we will be buried, but where we do not know yet.

To be honest I was not prepared for the questions being volleyed our way but I was really impressed with the inquisitiveness of my daughter.  What was humbling was simply thinking of your own mortality.  When we think of death we think of everyone else, them if you may.  When you are answering these types of questions while walking through a cemetery you begin to think about your death, legacy, destination, children, ect and if you have any sense you hopefully and quickly will be humbled to realized how small and insignificant you really are.

I think this is why we do not travel his road much, we become overwhelmed in reality, yet there were were. Trudging through the mud and water searching for 2 coffins that represent our history and legacies while realizing that our fate would be the same all too soon.

I know that this post is not the upbeat post you may have come to expect but I just wanted to give a dose of reality. Thank you so much for reading!