There are a couple of graveyards not far from where I work. I’ve never visited them, until recently. In my pursuit to persist in the presence of God, sometimes during lunch I go for a prayer walk. By myself – just me and Jesus. On my walk, I pass a couple of graveyards up on South Street. One on each side of the street. They’re beautiful. I’ve always thought graveyards were beautiful, not in a creepy way. They just usually look so neat, rows of headstones, some with flowers, some without. Big monuments, small monuments. Usually very uniform and tidy. Orderly. Old. Obviously, very peaceful.
Even though I’ve probably been by those two graveyards at least a thousand times in my life, I never really thought about them until recently. I don’t know who owns the graveyards. Just by their appearance they are owned by two different graveyard-owners. Does one own a graveyard? Anyhow. One of them looks over the City. The other on the opposite side of the street backs a wooded area. Both are surrounded by a lovely stone fence. One is bolted shut, one is not. Both are beautiful.
While walking by last week, I started wondering how old some of the stones were. I couldn’t get in to the bolted graveyard but the oldest stone I could see through the bars showed that the person memorialized there was born on December 24, 1795 and died September 13, 1879. Does that not blow your mind? This person was only 19 years older than our Nation, and lived to be 84 years old. Ponder that.
Anyway, today while walking by the graveyards, I checked out the graveyard on the opposite side. To be honest, I can’t believe I walked in. Here I am in my dress and sneakers, tiptoeing through a cemetery, not in a creepy way. As I’m walking around, which I have never done before except at funerals, I’m checking out the age of the headstones. I was interested in seeing how old the tombstones were on this side of the street. What I did find spoke right to me, not aloud, but deep in my heart. I found the monument of Alexander Cooper. Mr. Cooper was born April 16, 1775. Mr. Cooper was born before our Nation was born! Mr. Cooper died September 4, 1852, at the age of 77 years old. That’s crazy to think about, isn’t it? Mr. Cooper was born nearly 250 years ago.
Written on Mr. Cooper’s grave marker was the following:
A man without reproach.
A Christian humble and decent.
An Elder who ruled well.
Sober, grace, temperate.
Sound in faith.
A life of usefulness terminated in a peaceful death and his rest is glorious.
Obviously, I didn’t know Alexander Cooper, but reading his headstone makes me wish I had. Who wouldn’t want to know that kind of person? By the look of it, Mr. Cooper was everything we Christians aspire to be on this earth. He was blameless. He was humble. He was decent. He was fair. He had a sober, graceful temperament. His faith was solid. His life benefited others. He died a peaceful death and is living in glory. Don’t you want that? Better yet, don’t you want others to say that about you? I do. I want my life to say that I’m blameless, a Christian, humble, decent, fair, sober, grace-filled, with a firm foundation. I want others to think that I was useful and I’d prefer to die a peaceful death before I dance in His glory. Yep. I’d be happy to be compared to Mr. Cooper, he appeared to be a Godly man.
Therefore, I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
Ephesians 4:1
Paul urged the folks at Ephesus to live a life worthy of being called by God. We need to do that as well. We all want to stand before our King and hear him say: “Well done my good and faithful servant.” Don’t we?
How do we make that happen? What do we need to ask ourselves? Is our faith solid? Are we blameless? Are we humble? Are we decent? Are we fair? Is our temperament graceful? Do we need to change so others will see God in us? What attitudes do we need to adjust? What words do we need not speak? What actions do we need to take? He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it, if we’re willing to let Him.
Yes, I want to be like Mr. Cooper. I want to be known as a fair person, humble, but most of all a Christian who stands firm on the word of God. So I can be welcomed home by God when he calls me home. Thanks for opening my eyes more and more everyday.