Reading Selections

Weep Not For Me
Weep not for me though I am gone
Into the gentle night
Grieve if you will, but not for long
Upon my souls sweet flight.
I am at peace, my soul is at rest
There is no need for tears.
For with your love I was so blessed.
There is no pain, I suffer not,
The fear now all is gone.
Put those things out of your thoughts,
In your memory I live on.
Remember not my fight for breath
Remember not the strife
Please do not dwell upon my death
BUT CELEBRATE MY LIFE !!!

I'd like the memory of me to be a happy one.
I'd like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done.
I'd like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.
I'd like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun;
Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.

You can shed tears that s/he is gone
Or you can smile because s/he has lived

You can close your eyes and pray that s/he will come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all that s/he has left

Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her/him
Or you can be full of the love that you shared

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday

You can remember him and only that s/he is gone
Or you can cherish her/his memory and let it live on

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
Or you can do what s/he would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

God looked around his garden, and found an empty place,
He then looked down upon the earth, and saw your tired face.
He put his arms around you, and lifted you to rest.
God’s garden must be beautiful, He always takes the best.
He knew that you were suffering, He knew you were in pain.
He knew that you would never, get well on earth again.
He saw the road was getting rough, and the hills were hard to climb.
So he closed your weary eyelids, and whispered, ‘Peace be thine’.
It broke our hearts to lose you, but you didn’t go alone,
For part of us went with you, the day God called you home.

When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom-filled room
Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little-but not too long
And not with your head bowed low
Remember the love that we once shared
Miss me-but let me go

For this is a journey that we all must take
And each must go alone.
It's all part of the Master's plan
A step on the road to home

When you are lonely and sick of heart
Go to the friends we know
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds
Miss me but let me go.

Do not shed tears when I have gone but smile instead because I have lived.
Do not shut your eyes and pray to God that I'll come back but open
your eyes and see all that I have left behind.

I know your heart will be empty because you cannot see me but still I want you to be
full of the love we shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live only for yesterday or you can be happy for
tomorrow because of what happened between us yesterday.

You can remember me and grieve that I have gone or you can cherish my memory and let it live on.
You can cry and lose yourself, become distraught and turn your back on the world or you
can do what I want - smile, wipe away the tears, learn to love again and go on.

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning… to the end.

He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time they spent alive on earth and now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own, the cars… the house… the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard; are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that still can be rearranged.

To be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile… remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read, with your life’s actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you lived your dash?