The Newest Selfie

a mature couple taking a picture selfie

By Janet Denison –

Ellen DeGeneres took a selfie with several stars at the Oscar awards and the photo was retweeted 1.7 million times in the first hour.  Oxford Dictionary named “selfie” as the “Word of the Year 2013.”  USA Today recently ran an interesting article on the newest version of a selfie: the DIY Obit.  (Do it Yourself Obituary.)

The article described the trend this way: “Put it down to the “selfie” lifestyle of social media, and to the aging baby-boomer generation’s enduring need to exert control over every facet of their lives, including the end.”

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Interestingly, these “auto-obituaries” have started showing up in the news because some of them have gone viral on YouTube.  It is a popular new trend.  The website posts more than 10,000 results if you type “self obituary” in the search-line.  Some of these sefie-obits are funny, some are shocking and others might make you cry.  The real point: this is the way you CAN have the last word.  Or is it?

One person wrote their own obit when she knew she was dying of cancer, encouraging people to stop smoking.  Another obviously had some family issues.  His selfie-obit read, “Beam is survived by a multitude of children and several wives, none of whom was eager to be identified at this time.”  An older woman who has authored a blog for several years encouraged her fellow bloggers to write the “final one” ahead of time.  She suggests it begin with the words, “If you are reading this blog post . . .”

I don’t think I’ll be following her blog suggestion just yet, but it is food for thought.  Every day is a chance to make a difference in the world and with the people God brings into our lives.   Scripture says, “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.  For we live by faith, not by sight.  We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:6-10).

The best way to write a great obituary for ourselves is to live a godly life today.  We should live in such a way that our obituaries can be true, rather than “creative.”  We should be far more concerned with what the Lord will say to us on that Day of Judgment, than what the newspaper will say about us after we are gone.

One of my favorite eulogy moments was at the funeral of an amazing woman.  She was a wonderful servant of God and she loved her Lord, her family, and as many others as she was able to meet.  Her cardiologist spoke at her funeral and told all of us that she had “given away her heart, one small piece at a time.”   She is at home with the Lord.  In many ways, she always was – even while still in her earthly body.  Her life caused other people to want to know her Lord.

Our very large church was crowded the day of her funeral, with standing room only.  Her funeral service was a celebration of the wonderful life she had lived, and a celebration of the eternal life she was already enjoying.

I heard this song and wanted to close this blog post with the video and lyrics.  The song by Phillips, Craig and Dean is titled: Nothing to Prove.  The song was written by Dean after a close friend and church member lost his father to cancer.

“I’ll never forget the morning he called and said, ‘My dad is gone,'” Dean recalls. “It was brilliant and sad, and I went into the chapel with a heavy heart asking God what I could do, and out came this song with words that I hope can be said about me someday.”

Take the time to enjoy the video.  I think we all should share the hope that these words would be said about us someday as well.

Janet is the author of Content to Be Good – Called to Be Godly, a book/Bible study that encourages Christians to work towards a higher standard for their spiritual lives.  She has written her first children’s book, Felix Navidad, which is a Christmas story written to remind children of the true meaning of the season.  Janet is a popular speaker for church and community events, and a respected Bible teacher. You can find her at her website: http://www.janetdenison.com/.

 

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The Newest Selfie
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