Finishers Poem by Curtis Johnson

Finishers
By Curtis Johnson

The burial ground should not be a place of buried treasures.
The bodies of the deceased are all that should be found there.
We brought nothing into this world, and nothing should go out.
Blessed are we who die in the Lord whose works shall follow.
Our deeds and alms have spoken, and the living have benefited.

When it's my time to go, will I have run the patient race and fought the good fight?
When my time is up, will I have discovered the 'why' of me, and lived out my purpose?
When I cease to exist on God's green earth, will I have spoken in truth and lived in purity?

May the treasures I leave behind be the sort that, unlike me, shall never die.
May I tell what I have seen, teach what I have known, and share what I have understood.
May love inhabit me; May hope strive through me; and may God's wisdom flow from me.

May I lay a foundation upon which others may build and live happily.
May I model a life of respect and honesty worthy of others to emulate.
May I live out my life's calling and find no rest until all is said, and all is done.
Through trials and sore distress, may I not quit until like my Lord I say, 'IT IS FINISHED'.

1/23/2014cj