![]() Today’s text, Psalm 139, reminded me of that “little dash” and particularly the words of verse 16: “ All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (NIV). And now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.” For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth. He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke the following date with tears but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning to the end. Part of the poem reads: “I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. In 1996 a woman named Linda Ellis wrote a poem about the dash on a tombstone. Ironically, it is the little dash between the dates of birth and death that symbolizes the story of the deceased person’s life: successes and failures, joys and sorrows, loves and losses, triumphs and tragedies, their sitting and rising, their every thought, word, and deed. But whatever the design or composition, almost every grave marker has the same essential information: The name of the deceased. Walk through most public cemeteries and you’ll see grave markers of all shapes and sizes, bronze and granite, flush and upright, headstones and hearts. Search me, O God, and know my heart Try me, and know my anxieties and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred I count them my enemies. For they speak against You wickedly Your enemies take Your name in vain. Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand When I awake, I am still with You. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. ![]() Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. For You formed my inward parts You covered me in my mother’s womb. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day The darkness and the light are both alike to You. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me It is high, I cannot attain it. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. You know my sitting down and my rising up You understand my thought afar off. O Lord, You have searched me and known me. Hymns from The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) unless otherwise noted
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