One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach
with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he
noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonging to him, and the other to the
LORD.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in
the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of
footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his
life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it.
"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all
the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is
only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would
leave me."
The LORD replied, "My son. My precious child. I love you and I would
never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of
footprints, it was then that I carried you."
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked
under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital busily occupied with the living and
the dying. At a certain moment, a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to
function and that, for all intent and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a
machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be called the Bed of Life, and let my
body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of
a woman
Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of
pain.
Give my blood to the teen-ager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he
might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.
Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body, and find a way to make a
crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that,
some day, a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the
sound of rain against her window.
Burn what is left of me, and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all prejudice against
my fellow man.
Give my sins to the devil. Give my soul to God.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who
needs it. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.