Live Well Before Dying

Good morning…

Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us how to live well before dying. I noticed a huge pile of wisdom adding up about the delicate dance between living fully and dying well, as I researched the 123 favorite MLK quotes for yesterday’s post (touch ‘Previous’ above to revisit). These priceless pebbles of truth continue to ripple out from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and his death. Read slowly to yourself these life-giving quotes.

1. “I cannot do great things. I can do small things in a great way.”
2. “Not everyone can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service… You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.”
3. “There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of his own life, devoid of breadth.”
4. “The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.”
5. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
6. “A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.”
7. “No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for.”
8. “If physical death is the price I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.”

Before dying, Martin Luther King, Jr. lived well, very well. He did small things in a great way, serving others from the overflow of a heart full of grace and a soul generated and regenerated by the love of our LORD. Quality of character and breadth of influence marked King’s commitment to live his one life to its fullest. King refused to be “soft-minded,” caving into the easy thing when life got hard. His life lives on because he refused to be silent about things that matter, he refused to get bogged down in the length of his own life, and he refused to purchase his own spiritual death on an installment place, fearful choice by fearful choice. Saved, redeemed, growing gradually more whole, King came alive as he discerned with God what he would die for: freeing all of us from a permanent death of God’s living Spirit.

Before dying, Martin Luther King, Jr. lived fully the words of Philippians 1:21 (AMP): For to me, to live is Christ [He is my source of joy, my reason to live] and to die is gain [for I will be with Him in eternity].

…Sue…

P.S. Today as we kick off our Living Fully – Dying Well series, you are invited to join me, Susan Spratt, Betsy Walker, and Ginna McFarling from 9:30 – 11:00 am in room 308 at Northside Church, 2799 Northside Drive, Atlanta, GA 30305. This morning we will discuss The Physiology of Dying. Ginna McFarling is a retired nurse practitioner who has worked in women’s health for twenty-five years and in hospice for eight years. She and Betsy Walker, a registered nurse, will help us understand what happens to the body as it completes its life cycle. There are no reservations necessary and no fee for this six week series. Men and women are welcome to attend one talk or the entire series. Check out the line up of talented professionals facilitating our weekly experiences.