Besides attending ceremonies and signing policies after taking the oath of office, new US presidents are greeted with a cold reality: They start making their own funeral plans. That way the country will be prepared to celebrate their lives when they die. George H. W. Bush was asked if it was “weird” to be planning his own memorial. He replied, “You kind of get used to it.” Historians will write about their legacies, but presidents get to plan the personal and traditional parts of their services and the ways they will be remembered.

Death is a sobering reality we all must face. King Solomon, who searched for the meaning of life in pleasure, work, and knowledge, and came up empty, said, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting” (Ecclesiastes 7:2). Negative situations give more perspective than happy times. If we face the reality of death, we can better prepare for what comes after. Verse two adds, “Death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.” We should ponder it and plan on it.

Preparation comes from receiving forgiveness of sin from Jesus, who died for us and rose again. Everyone dies because death came when the first man, Adam, disobeyed God, and we have followed his ways. But “everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life” (1 Corinthians 15:22 nlt).