Aging Affairs: Funeral Planning

One of the best gifts you can leave your loved one is a plan for your remains and your funeral. Even a younger adult can benefit from having this plan in place. When the family is grieving the death of a loved one it can be difficult to make decisions about necessary and important tasks. Funeral planning in advance takes a huge burden off of them.

Funeral planning and taking care of your body.

But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise – let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy – your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. – Isaiah 26:19, NIV

Whatever your opinion on your soul after death, the body still needs to be cared for. Some choices include:

• Cremation.
• Coffins.
• Urns.
• Open casket or closed.

Your opinion on those things will make a difference in what happens to your body after you die. Being an organ donor should be communicated to your family as well. Knowing what you want to happen to your remains is a big decision that your family will appreciate not needing to make.

If you can also decide where your final resting place will be, that also helps. You can have a plot or place your ashes in a columbarium. These things can be purchased years in advance.

Once you have the location chosen, that will inform your choices for markers and headstones. While you cannot have everything sorted (after all no one knows when they will die) you can have all the paperwork and funds available for when you do shuffle off your mortal coil.

Funeral planning and the service.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. – Romans 8:11, NIV

If you are a member of a particular church near the area you wish to be buried in you may be able to keep a file with them. Some churches have a specific format for their funeral services, including Bible passages and order of service.

More nondenominational churches may have a more lax order of service. Sometimes people have a service at the funeral home. Others simply have a graveside service. You may choose a celebration of life, instead of a funeral.

This provides a chance for loved ones to celebrate your life and work. You can have music chosen, an idea of how you want people to talk about you. Any indication or plan you can have written down and kept with your will helps everyone out in the long run.

Grieving.

But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. – Psalm 10:14, NIV

Grieving the loss of a loved one is hard. No matter how much you prepare and anticipate, you cannot protect those you leave behind from grief. All you can do is minimize the need to make important decisions after your death. Don’t place the burden of what to do with your remains on those who grieve. Leave behind whatever comfort you can give, even in death.