Beyond Beauty:The Measure Of Life

Beyond Beauty:The Measure Of Life


What Will Remain When You Are Gone? Some years ago, I attended two burial ceremonies , two women, two different days, two very different legacies. What stayed with me was not their ages, their outfits, or the size of the crowd. It was what people could , or could not , say when given the chance to speak.

At the first burial, only four people were invited to share. The first speaker cried deeply and said, “I will miss mummy.” Then she struggled, paused, and added that the woman was beautiful… and that people should avoid making her angry because she could be destructive. That was all.

The next speaker stood up, clearly overwhelmed, but words failed her. She repeated that she would miss her.

The third spoke about appearance, how the woman dressed well, matched her clothes from head to toe, and looked elegant. Then she ended with, “I will miss her.”

And that was it.

A month later, I attended another burial. Again, the anchor invited people to speak—but this time, almost every hand in the room went up. Including mine. That alone startled me.

Only a few were selected. But when the first person spoke, the atmosphere shifted.

“She was always there for me , emotionally, morally, spiritually…” She couldn’t finish her sentence before breaking down in tears.

Another person said, “I am who I am today because she believed in me.”

Someone else stood up and said, “I don’t know how to move forward without her. She was my strength.”

The last speaker simply asked, “Why do valuable people die?”

In that moment, something pierced my heart.

Impact is not noise.

Impact is not beauty.

Impact is not presence alone.

Impact is what people carry with them because you existed in their lives.

That day, I asked myself a difficult question:

If my voice were silenced today, what would people struggle to live without?

Impact does not always look grand. Sometimes it is quiet and unnoticed. A sincere “Good morning, I hope you’re okay.” A check-in when no one else remembers. Showing up when it’s inconvenient. Encouraging someone when they are unsure. Standing by someone when it costs you nothing but time , and everything in meaning.

Impact stretches beyond one moment. It lives in different dimensions. Some plant seeds. Some water. Some nurture silently. And long after they are gone, their presence continues to speak.

So the real question is not “How many people know me?”

It is “Whose life is better because I cared?”

We may not all have crowds at our funerals , but we all have opportunities to leave footprints in hearts while we are still here.

What kind of impact are you making?

And how are you making it?           



        "A true millionaire isn't the one with millions but the one that impact million lives"    


        Quotes by Pastor Sam Adeyemi





✍🏽 Written by Maria Jacobs

Christian writer & faith blogger

🌿 https://mariajacobsfaith.blogspot.com


#LegacyMatters #LivingWithPurpose #ImpactThatLasts

#ChristianReflection #FaithAndLife #PurposefulLiving

#EverydayImpact #LifeBeyondSelf #MariaJacobsFaith

Comments

  1. @devotionalsJanuary 14, 2026 at 6:00 AM

    Hmmm, thank you ma, the little efforts of kindness, availability makes more sense that big help when it's too late, more insight ma

    ReplyDelete
  2. Maria JacobsJanuary 29, 2026 at 5:15 PM

    Very true, and grateful 😇😇😇😇😊😊😊 for the engagement too

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bloom where you are planted

 🌸 Bloom Where You Are Planted 🌸 There is a quiet wisdom in the phrase “Bloom where you are planted.” It does not deny hardship, nor does it pretend that every soil is kind. Instead, it reminds us that God’s purpose is not suspended because our environment is uncomfortable, unfamiliar, or imperfect. 📖 Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Many times, we pray for change—new places, new seasons, new people—believing that fruitfulness lives somewhere else. But often, God begins His work right where we are, in the place we least expect growth. 📖 Psalm 1:3 “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season.” Blooming does not mean life is easy. Flowers still face heat, rain, storms, and pressure beneath the soil before beauty ever shows. Growth happens quietly, invisibly, patiently. Sometimes, where you are planted feels like ...
Read more

What are you grateful for

🌿 What Are You Grateful For? 🌿 During one of our Sunday School sessions, a simple but powerful question was asked: “What are you grateful for?” The answers came gently. One person said she was grateful for family, the comfort of calling a sibling and hearing, “How are you doing?” She reflected further and said that some families have only one child, who may be grateful for aunties and uncles to lean on, unlike children in motherless homes who have no one to hold onto at all. As she spoke, my heart began to search inward. I thought about my health. From my teenage years, I have lived with PCOS. It hasn’t always been easy. There were moments of pain, fear, and uncertainty. Yet I am deeply grateful ,because every time a crisis came, God gave me strength to overcome it. I am standing, Still moving forward and hopeful. Thankful for my daughter also who has Micenteric Adenitis and she is still standing too, even with the stress that comes with that also.  Then my pastor shared somethin...
Read more

History Repeating Itself

History Repeating Itself While preparing for Christmas activities here and there, a conversation I once had with my husband returned to my heart. I remember saying to him, “Please, do not let history repeat itself.” The previous year, I had been grateful to God, but not in the way I truly ought to have been, because of the clothes I wore, please don't get me wrong  "nothing can separate us from the love of Christ"(Romans 8:39). Yet that first Sunday of the year, something within me felt unsettled. It wasn’t rebellion, I had really wanted us to dress like a family. It was a quiet nudge in my spirit ,be more intentional. So this time, I spoke up. I asked him to do the needful early , to give the designer enough time. He listened. And when the outfit was ready, it was beautiful. But more than the outfit, what stayed with me was this simple truth: intentionality changes outcomes. That moment opened my eyes. Year in, year out, we all make plans. We dream. We hope. We say, “Thi...
Read more