When Lindsay was about two, she said, “Mamaw, I want to see your sad face.”

Mamaw (my mom) gave her a quick frown. But she said, “Nooo, Mamaw! I want to see your sad face, like when I have to go away.”

So Mamaw gave her a deeply sorrowful look, and pretended to cry.

Lindsay grinned–satisfied with the melancholy countenance that was sure to embellish her grandma’s face when it was time for her to go back home (about two hours away).

Everybody likes somebody to have a sad face when they go.

And someday, it will be your ‘time to go’. It may be soon; it may be later. But the day will come, and you will be snatched away–much further than a two hour drive.

Have you thought about who will have a ‘sad face’ on that day? Who will truly miss you? Who will ache to hug you or long to talk to you again? Whoever those people are…. they are your people. They are the ones to whom you are irreplaceable. They are the ones who could never fill your spot simply by taking applicants.

These are the people worth spending your life on!

Jesus was a beautiful picture of living life this way. He didn’t use his short life to leverage his strengths (which were obviously pretty impressive). He didn’t accumulate wealth or garnish power for himself. Instead, he gave his life up. He laid it down. He spent himself on all of us–the ones with the sad faces on Good Friday and the happy faces on Easter.

If you a follower of Jesus, you’re called to do as Jesus did–to spend your life on others; on ‘your people’. Do what you do for them! Be who you are for them! Think about them as you make wise decisions and live with integrity. Care for them as you gradually become who you will be a decade from now, or two decades.

If you truly ‘die to yourself, and live this way, your people surely will have sad faces when you are gone, but it will be because you enriched their lives so much, and gave them such joy!

So go ahead. Ask a loved one or two to show you their ‘sad face’. But more importantly, do what Jesus did. Give your life up, and truly live.