Words of Worth

“Better than your day of birth…”

November 9, 2019

Today is the 13^th anniversary of my 50^th birthday! I do not think I have ever publicly announced my birthday as I typically leave that to others. However, today is a different kind of birthday because I spent the majority of it at a funeral. Today, the celebration of life was not of my life, but of the life of a dear friend, Ruth Yoder, whose funeral was today. Many of my kind friends were concerned I spent the actual day of my birthday at Ruth’s funeral, however, I did not mind because it caused me to think of Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 7.

Imagine that Solomon were your substitute teacher for a day and he gave you this true or false quiz:

1. I like thinking about my birthday better than my dying day.
2. I like weddings better than funerals.
3. I like laughing better than crying.
4. I like compliments better than criticism.

If you answered “true” to any, or all of the questions, you would have done poorly in class that day because Solomon seems to prefer death, funerals, sorrow, and criticism, according to Ecclesiastes 7: 1-5 –

¹A good name is better than precious ointment,
    and the day of death than the day of birth.
² It is better to go to the house of mourning
    than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
    and the living will lay it to heart.
³ Sorrow is better than laughter,
    for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
    but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
⁵ It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise
    than to hear the song of fools.

Solomon’s thinking, on first blush, may seem to be a bit upside down and backwards to my way of thinking, but on closer inspection of the verses, especially 7:1, he seems to make sense.

A good name (shem in Hebrew) is better than a precious ointment (shemen in Hebrew). A shem is better than a shemen and thus the day of death is better than the day of birth.  There are at least two times in our lives when our name is illustrious and is in the newspapers- the day we are born and the day we die. And when we die, our life is represented by two bookend years with a dash in the middle, as in Ruth’s life–Ruth Yoder, 1940 – 2019.  That small little dash, on the day of her birth, represented the unwritten script of her life yet to be lived for good or bad; on October 31, 2019, the day of Ruth’s death, the small dash represented the finished script of her life already lived for good or bad.  If we die with a good name, nothing can be done to un-write that good name. However, on the day of our birth, we have many opportunities ahead to write our reputation. Who knows on our birthday if we will write for good or bad?

The late Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, once told a story of how he went into an out of state jewelry store to buy wedding gifts for his upcoming wedding and wedding party. But all he had for payment was an out of state check. The shop owner said it was against store policy to accept such a check, but as Bright was walking out the door, the owner asked if Bill knew anyone in town who could vouch for him.  Bill said that he didn’t but his grandfather had lived in that very town all of his life but had died three years ago. The shop owner asked if Bill’s grandfather was Sam Bright and if so, Sam was the most honest man the owner had ever known.  Based on how Sam Bright lived his dash, the store owner was willing to sell any item in the store to Bill Bright and accept an out of state check!

And it is that living out of the dash, having a good SHEM, that makes our dying day better than a SHEMEN and our day of birth!

Clearly from today’s testimonies of friends and family who knew Ruth, and from the eulogy tribute to her, Ruth lived her dash incredibly well and consistently. Her children, grandchildren, husband, pastor and friends, all made mention, without consulting one another, of Ruth living out the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22). Anyone who knew Ruth, would have been willing to accept an out of state check from her children and grandchildren!

Today is my birthday and I will still have an opportunity to celebrate it after today! And I pray that, inspired by Ruth Yoder, who lived her dash well, I will be making deposits into my dash for a life well lived.

Until we meet again, Ruth, thank you for your friendship, encouragement, and example of living the dash well! The missing of you will be great but it will be surpassed by the greater hope of seeing you again!

¹⁶ For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words. (I Thessalonians 4: 16-18)