David Leventhal

I came across this headstone this past weekend at Horn Cemetery in McKinney, TX (click the image for a higher resolution view).  Horn Cemetery is a small, old place tucked away just on the northwest corner of Erwin Park.  It’s about 150 years old and has among it’s roughly 200 dead, some Civil War veterans.

This headstone stood out to me – cracked apart with the broken piece leaning upon its other half. It marked the remains of a man named William Henderson Horn, Sr.  He was born on December 10, 1815 & died on May 1, 1887.  I know very little about this man.  After fifteen minutes online I discovered that at age 24 he married a woman named Elizabeth Carruth and that they had 13 children – Anlizer, Minerva, Robert, James, William, Martha, George, Mildred, Franklin, Eli, Andrew, Clarissa, and Edward (and you thought Missy & I were crazy…).

Other than that brief bit of information I no nothing about Mr. William Henderson Horn, Sr.  He may have been a man of much importance & influence.  He may have been a simple farmer.  He may have had great wealth or perhaps he died penniless.  All I know is that his gravestone is broken in two pieces. All his earthly achievements are gone.  His wealth, if he had any, was dispersed long ago. All that’s left of William Henderson Horn, Sr. is a broken tombstone.

And the same thing will happen to me.

And to you.

The Psalmist had it right, didn’t he.

As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. (Psalm 103:15-16).

We are here today…and we are gone tomorrow. This is reality and it makes Jesus’ words all that more important:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

It’s right there – crystal clear. If we focus our time and energy and resources on collecting stuff for the here and now then our whole legacy will be summed up by a broken tombstone.  But if we invest our lives on the things that matter beyond the here and now then, broken tombstone or not, our impact will ring throughout all eternity.

So…let’s deal with the fact that we’re all headed towards a broken tombstone. And let’s wrestle with the question of whether there be anything invested on the other side.