{"id":14582,"date":"2012-02-29T04:00:56","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T10:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=14582"},"modified":"2012-02-29T04:00:56","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T10:00:56","slug":"dont-wait-for-a-funeral-to-give-a-eulogy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/dont-wait-for-a-funeral-to-give-a-eulogy\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Wait for a Funeral to Give a Eulogy"},"content":{"rendered":"
I am mostly offline, attending a business conference. I have asked several bloggers to post in my absence. This is a guest post by Michael Smith, a blogger and associate pastor in Franklin, TN. You can read his blog<\/a> and follow him on Twitter<\/a>. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here<\/a>.<\/div>\n

We typically wait until the end of a person's life to give a eulogy, to say nice things about someone. But why wait? Why not start now\u2014when the words can have the most impact?<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of \u00a9iStockphoto.com\/Kameleon007<\/div>\n

Earlier this year, my family celebrated my father's eightieth birthday. It was a fun celebration with friends and family.<\/p>\n

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By no means was this a small gathering. Over a hundred people attended the party. I teased him that I was glad my mom didn't send a Facebook invitation to all his friends, because he now has close to fifteen hundred.<\/p>\n

As part of the program, some of my dad's\u00a0friends and family members were asked to stand and say a few words. Some spoke of his competitive spirit on the golf course, others of his passion for helping students succeed.<\/p>\n

Even others talked about my father's heart for God and teaching the Bible. His grandchildren shared some of the memories he helped them make. And my sister and I spoke of his love and witness, his\u00a0willingness to follow God no matter where he was\u00a0called.<\/p>\n

A few hours after the party, we were all sitting in my parent\u2019s home, remembering the events of the day. My dad began to thank us for the party. He said he felt honored that all those people came and said so many good things about him. He said, “I feel like I got to witness my own funeral.”<\/p>\n

It is usually at a person's funeral<\/a> where all the nice things are said.\u00a0The only problem, my dad noted, is that the person doesn't get to hear it.<\/p>\n

A few days later, an article appeared in our local paper, saying that “it is only when people retire or move on to another job” that we throw a party for them in the work place. Only then do we say all the nice things and celebrate who they are and what they've accomplished.<\/p>\n

But why do we wait until our bosses, co-workers, and team members move on to say nice things about them? Shame on us. We should start eulogizing those who mean the most to us before<\/em> they leave us.<\/p>\n

I don't want to one day hear myself saying about my team, “I wish I had told them how great they were.” I want them to know how much they matter to me now<\/em>:<\/p>\n