Live for Your Eulogy, Not Your Resume

You’re sitting in the back row of your own funeral. The room is quiet. Someone walks to the front, clears their throat, and begins to speak about your life.

What would you hope they say?

Would it be about the deals you closed? The titles you held? The hours you put in?

Of course not… At the end, when our eyes close and we leave behind the people we’ve lived life with, it’s your character they’ll meditate on. Your faith. The way you loved. 

Our culture loves a good resume, right? Bullet points, accomplishments, and highlights get us the recognition… But all that fades when your last breath leaves. 

Heaven pays no heed to your checkbook. Nor will people celebrate your expensive car when you’ve breathed your last. 

Your legacy is not built in boardrooms or bank statements.

Your legacy is written in the relationships you form, the acts of love you make, and the influence you have on others for the sake of Christ.

Bronnie Ware, a palliative nurse who spent years with people in their final days, wrote down the five most common regrets of the dying.

None of them involved more work, more money, more fame… 

“I wish I had stuck up for myself.”
“I wish I had more time for my kids.”
“I regret choosing bitterness over joy.” 

These are the refrains of the dying… And we, as the living, ought to pay attention. 

Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Numbering your days means living like they’re limited.

Because they are… 

The number of hugs you can give your kids.
The number of dates you have with your spouse.
The number of opportunities you have to impact your community. 

One day, perhaps even today, it will all be gone. 

Morbid? No… Inspiring! 

When you truly grasp that your time is short, it reshapes how you spend it.

You stop chasing the applause of strangers and start cherishing the laughter of your children.
You spend more evenings lingering at the dinner table instead of rushing off to the next thing.
And you begin to measure success, not by how much you did, but by how well you loved.

Resumes fade. Legacies multiply.

My invitation is for you to: 

Define success by God’s standards, not the world’s.
Prioritize people over position.
Measure your days by faithfulness, not busyness.

One day, your name will be spoken in a room you’re not in.

Live now so that what’s said then tells the story God intended for your life.