Let me ask you an odd question: If you died tomorrow, how hard would it be for your loved ones to sort through your belongings? I stole that question from Ashley Hamer, a science writer and podcaster, in an article she wrote about the practice of Swedish death cleaning. Have you heard about this? It sounds morbid, but it’s actually a good idea. Swedish death cleaning is the practice of going through your possessions every few years and getting rid of the things you no longer need or no longer feel connected to. This isn’t a new fad for senior citizens; it’s for people of all ages who want to live a simpler lifestyle. It’s a way to live with less “stuff” in the present and to make things easier for your loved ones when you actually do die.
A few years ago, a Swedish artist named Margareta Magnusson wrote a best-selling book titled The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. Here are some of her tips for doing it well:
- Start at the top of the house—attics, closets, etc.—and work your way down to the basement
- Invite family and close friends to help you go through your things, and to take any possessions that are meaningful or useful to them.
- Here’s an important tip: get rid of any embarrassing items. Maybe do this one first before you invite family and friends. If there is anything you wouldn’t want your loved ones to see after your death, like a diary or an old yearbook full of your mullet photos, now is the time to get rid of it.
- The last step in Swedish death cleaning is to go through old photos and letters. These are often our most meaningful possessions, so this step will take more time.
- Finally, go through this whole process again every few years. (1)
Now some of you hear about this and get motivated. You are mentally visualizing each room of your house, choosing all the stuff at home you’re going to give away. And some of you are thinking, “I only clean the house every five to ten years anyway, so that’s do-able. I accidentally brushed up against the refrigerator while wearing my favorite T-shirt—does that count as dusting?” I think it’s especially helpful that Swedish death cleaning isn’t a one-time act, but an every-few-years practice. We can use it to assess what is meaningful to us, and to remind us not to waste our lives. And anyway, you never know when you’re going to die.
Unless you’re Mark Twain. Did you know that one of our nation’s most famous writers predicted his own death? According to a biography of Twain, in 1909 he was quoted as saying, “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.’”
On April 21, 1910, 24 hours after Halley’s Comet was visible in the night sky, Mark Twain died of a heart attack. (2)
Did Twain do anything differently in his final year of life? Did he write something brilliant? Contact all his loved ones? Do a Swedish death cleaning? I don’t know if he did anything differently, or if he just waited to die. We all think that we would use our time wisely under those circumstances.
In Deuteronomy 32, two chapters before this morning’s reading, God warned Moses that he would die soon. In fact, he gave Moses exact instructions on how it should happen. Put yourself in Moses’ shoes. How would you respond if God told you today when and where you would die? Moses responds by declaring a final blessing over the Israelites, a blessing that begins and ends with affirmations of God’s goodness. And then Moses does exactly as God has commanded him.
A few years ago, a team of scientists in Canada accidentally witnessed what happens in the brain at the moment of death. And it took them completely by surprise. They were running a test to measure the brainwaves of an 87-year-old man who had developed epilepsy. But in the middle of the test, the man suffered a sudden heart attack and died.
Strangely, their neurological tests showed that “in the 30 seconds before and after (the heart attack), the man’s brainwaves followed the same patterns as dreaming or recalling memories.” The scientists theorize that in the moments just before and immediately after his death, he may have been processing memories of his life.
A few years later, researchers in the U.S. carried out tests on rats that measured their brain waves before and immediately after death, and they found that a very similar thing happened.
Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, one of the scientists who participated in the original neurological test in Canada, said, “This could possibly be a last recall of memories that we’ve experienced in life, and they replay through our brain in the last seconds before we die.” (3)
What if it’s true that your life really does “flash before your eyes” as you’re facing death? If so, I wonder what thoughts replayed through Moses’ mind in those last few moments with God on Mount Nebo.
I think Moses looked back and saw that God was with him from beginning to end. There are so many aspects of Moses’ life that can only be explained by the grace and mercy of God. He was born under an edict by the Egyptian Pharaoh that every male Hebrew baby should be put to death. He not only survived, he went on to grow up in Pharaoh’s household. From there, Moses was a murderer, a wanderer, a shepherd, a prophet of God, and a leader of the nation of Israel. His life was never easy. Yet Moses believed with all his being in the goodness of God. He could never doubt that God had been with him, guiding him with grace and mercy from the cradle to the grave.
Psychologist Dan McAdams led a study at Northwestern University that analyzed how people over the age of 70 tell their life stories. McAdams found that the life stories tended to follow one of two patterns: a contamination sequence or a redemption sequence. In the contamination sequence, the person looks back at their life and sees a challenge or heartbreak or failure with no redeeming qualities. It represents a loss in their lives. An example: I lost my job, and it took me a couple of years to get over the loss.
In the redemption sequence, the person looks back at their life and finds good things—new opportunities, new wisdom, a fresh start—that came out of their challenges, heartbreaks or failures. An example: I lost my job, and it forced me to take stock of my life. I decided to try a new career path, and I’m a lot happier now.
McAdams and his colleagues found that those people who had the most redemption sequences in their life stories were also the most generative in their lives. They had a desire to reach out and help others. They wanted to invest in creating a better future for the next generation. But the people who listed the most contamination sequences in their life story were much less generative. They were less likely to concentrate on creating a meaningful legacy for their lives. (4)
Here’s the thing: two people can live very similar lives, enduring similar challenges and heartbreaks. One person looks back at their life as a series of hardships and injustices. The other person looks back at their life as a series of blessings. What makes the difference? The ability to see God with us every step of the way.
The second thing I think Moses saw when he looked back at his life was that God had given him the strength to accomplish far greater things than he could have imagined. As Moses stands on Mount Nebo and looks over the Promised Land he will never get to enter, we read in verse 7: “Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.” What a blessing! But it wasn’t physical strength that made Moses into a great leader. It was God’s power working through him that equipped him to lead the people of Israel out of slavery and through the wilderness toward the Promised Land. God strengthened Moses with courage, wisdom and determination to lead a nation to freedom.
I see a courage, wisdom and determination from God in the life of a remarkable woman named Christy Kinsey. Christy was a rescue pilot in the U.S. Air Force and an accomplished athlete when she lost her right leg above the knee in a tragic boating accident. Recovering from the amputation would require eight months of difficult physical therapy. But only nine weeks after the accident, Christy was selected to compete in the Department of Defense’s Warrior Games, a yearly athletic competition that “celebrates the resiliency and dedication of wounded, ill, and injured active duty and veteran U.S. military service members.” She won 11 medals. And she continued to push herself daily to get back in top physical condition. A little more than a year after the accident, Christy passed all the qualifying tests and was re-instated. She is only the sixth amputee to regain their pilot status with the U.S. Air Force. Today, she is a Major and Command Pilot with the Air Force. She also trains Air Force cadets.
Christy credits her faith in God and the support of her family, friends and colleagues with helping her achieve her goals. She recalls a fellow amputee, Matt Melancon, who visited her in the hospital right after the accident. One piece of advice he gave her has fueled her recovery: “Don’t for one second long for what you were, but recklessly pursue what you can become.”
Christy’s faith in God also motivates her to help others in need. She has served as a foster mother to numerous children. She works with fellow amputees, helping them to deal with the challenges of their new life. And she and her sister, Jessica, established the One Leg Up On Life Foundation, which provides prosthetic limbs for amputees in impoverished countries. (5, 6)
People who commit themselves to following God will tell you that God always provides the strength to accomplish far greater things than they could have imagined. God wants to accomplish His promises through us.
And finally, when Moses looked down on the Promised Land he would never enter, I think he saw that God’s work would continue, and God’s promises would be fulfilled. God is faithful to His promises. God is faithful to His people. The God who called Moses when he was a solitary shepherd in the wilderness, the God who revealed His name and His goodness to Moses, the God who led the Israelites through the desert—this God would take His people into the Promised Land. Moses’ faith had not been in vain. His labor had not been in vain. God would fulfill His promises to His people.
One of the most famous works of medieval English literature is The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer’s novel, which he began in 1387, showcases 27 people on a pilgrimage. They create a storytelling contest to entertain themselves along their journey. Each of the characters was supposed to tell two tales on their way to Canterbury and two on the way back home. Sadly, Chaucer only completed 24 tales before his death in 1400. His greatest work was never completed. (7)
When Moses looked down on the Promised Land, I don’t think he saw an unfinished work. I think he saw the goodness and the faithfulness of God. I think he knew that he played a vital role in God’s story of redemption. And now, God would finish the story that Moses began.
There is an old story about a godly man who was facing his impending death.
A friend asked, “Do you fear crossing over the river of death?”
Without hesitation, the old saint replied, “I belong to a Father who owns the land on both sides of the river.”
I believe Moses faced his death with peace, even joy, because he belonged to a Father who owns land on both sides of the river. He never got to settle in Canaan because God had prepared a home for him in God’s Kingdom.
We can take assurance from Moses’ life. God is faithful to those who commit their lives to him. If we commit our lives to God, if we walk in God’s will and by God’s Spirit, we will also discover that God is with us every step of the way. We will discover that God will give us the strength to accomplish far greater things than we could have imagined. And we will discover that God’s work will continue, and God’s promises will be fulfilled in us and through us. And when we look back at our life, we will see the goodness of God from beginning to end.
1. “Use Swedish Death Cleaning to Declutter Your Life” by Ashley Hamer Curiosity.com December 20, 2018. https://curiosity.com/topics/use-swedish-death-cleaning-to-declutter-your-life-curiosity?utm_campaign=daily-digest&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_medium=email.
2. “6 Artists Who Predicted Their Own Deaths” by Beth, January 17, 2014
https://blog.redbubble.com/2014/01/6-artists-who-predicted-their-own-deaths/.
3. “Life may actually flash before your eyes on death - new study” by Holly Honderich BBC News, Washington February 23, 2022. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60495730.
4. D. McAdams, Power, Intimacy, and the Life Story (Homewood, IL.: Dorsey, 1985). Cited by John Kotre, Ph.D. Make It Count (New York: The Free Press, 1999), 87-88.
5. “‘I’m back to my life,’ says Invictus competitor, Christy Wise” by Anna Katherine Clemmons ESPN.com September 28, 2017. https://www.espn.com/sports/endurance/story/_/id/20819369/invictus-games-2017-unstoppable-christy-wise-back-life-losing-leg.
6. “Still soaring: Air Force pilot amputee’s amazing journey brings her to Cd’A” by Mike Kincaid CDAPress.com September 4, 2022. https://cdapress.com/news/2022/sep/04/christy-kinsey-amputee-pilot/ Couer d’Alene/Post Falls Press.
7. “Why 15 Masterpieces Were Abandoned Before They Were Finished,” May 13, 2019
https://www.invaluable.com/blog/unfinished-masterpieces/.