I sat in the little room, as I had done countless times before, and listened to family member after family member intone on the virtues of their loved one that lay there in the beautifully adorned wooden box in front of them.

The day was Saturday, September 31 and I had been asked to play the organ at a funeral service in Fort Worth. I have a "have voice/keyboard, will travel" type of relationship with a couple of funeral homes and when they have need of my services, they call. Such was the case here.

As I listened to these people extol the wonderful words upon their dearly-loved deceased, my thoughts went another direction than normal. Understand, that after having been involved with so many funerals over the years, a slight amount of detachment and dispassionment can set in. If each one were in a vacuum, the case could easily be made that the person they are putting in the ground was the best person that ever graced this planet. I have heard it all before.

However Saturday, the words struck me a little different. Of all the flowery words that are spoken at these sad times, how many of them were said to the person BEFORE they passed away? Why is it that we often wait until they are no longer around to hear them, that we speak them?

I was convicted - greatly. When was the last time I told someone how much I thought about them or how proud I was to have them as my friend, or how they made me laugh, or anything else that might be said of them... after they die?

The Next Right Thing for me is to pass out the flowers while they can still be heard, and appreciated by the very ones that mean the most to me. Will you join me?