by Jennifer Blatto-Vallee

In the movies, dying words tend to be nuggets of truth on how to live or ridiculous confessions of past transgressions. You’ve got to love the last breath confessions telling us where the bodies are buried. I don’t think my last words will be that dramatic. Have you ever thought about what your dying words will be? Sometimes I think about the things I’d want my children to know. The list is endless, really. I have all these ideas I think I have to bestow on them about practical life. After all, dying words are for the living.

As I read David’s last words in 2 Samuel 23. 1-7, I feel as though we’re receiving some fundamental nuggets; things to keep in mind on a daily basis. David was anointed King, but we all have some kind of authority. We “rule” at home or on our jobs, on the baseball diamond or from the pulpit. Whether or not we are the authority, we still, like David, have the responsibility to be fair, to follow God’s teaching and to act in a sweet and gentle way. That’s a tall order. We will fail. We cannot live up to God’s standard, but David reminds us that God has made a way for us through the covenant He made to all believers. The most remarkable part is that no matter how many times we break our covenant to Him, His covenant to us is never broken. Nothing can sever it.

If I died today, my last words to my children might be, “ There is nothing you need to desire outside of the work of the cross. The promise has been made. It is yours to receive. Nothing else could ever be sufficient.” Then, I’d tell them where I hid the candy.

A fellow traveler,
Jennifer