February 11, 2016

Life Is Fleeting

“Show me, Lord, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is." -- Psalm 39:4

I just talked to her a few days ago. She was sick. We were worried about a sinus infection but it was something far worse. Two trips to the ER, an ambulance ride to another town, emergency surgery and she was gone the next day.

It was just so sudden. She’d won the cancer battle -- twice. She was doing great. My mind sees the sparkle in her eyes and the wisdom behind her knowing smile. How can she have gone home before any of us were ready to let her go?

I am so very grateful for the years that I have known her. She taught me so much without ever realizing she was teaching me. I know others would say the same. You see, she didn’t preach at people. She didn’t judge or tell others what to do. (Unless you were one of her children.) She simply lived her life as an example to what true faith should be.

She was steadfast in her friendship. She always had my back. Always. She was so loyal to our family. During those hard, hard days last year, she was there. She came. She stayed. She laughed. She cried with us. She was there.

We shared vegetables and stories. She came numerous times to play cards with my parents. She visited. She listened. She loved. How can she be gone?

I knew her for what seems like forever and, yet, it wasn’t nearly long enough. I grieve for her children and the void that now fills their world. Their Dad, her beloved husband, left years ago because of cancer. They are joined together now, celebrating even as their children grieve.

I am so grateful that I will see her again. So thankful for Jesus and His gift of salvation. How do people who are lost face death? How can they bear the separation and the hopelessness of it all?

I will miss my friend until the day we meet again. My heart is heavy but there is joy is knowing that this goodbye is only temporary. And there is gladness, too, for all that she taught me by how she lived her life.