A Reflection on an Autumn Day

I took up a handful of grain and let it slip flowing through my fingers, and I said to myself; this is what it is all about.  There is no longer any room for pretence.  At harvest time the essence is revealed – the straw and chaff are set aside, they have done their job.  The grain alone matters – sacks of pure gold.

So it is when a person dies the essence of that person is revealed.  At the moment of death a person’s character stands out happy for the person who has forged it well over the years.  Then it will not be the great achievement that will matter, nor how much money or possessions a person has amassed.  These, like the straw and the chaff, will be left behind.  It is what he has made of himself that will matter.  Death can take away from us what we have, but it cannot rob us of who we are.