I was awoken this morning a little after 3:00 a.m. by the quiet “ding, ding” of my cell phone letting me know that someone had sent me a message. The message was from a dear friend and simply read “Mom just passed away.” My mind immediately rushed back 18 years ago to the day my own Mom passed away. Both remarkable women left their families as a result of cancer.
As I often do when I can’t sleep I turned to Facebook to see how many of my friends are suffering the same plight. The second message listed was a link (See below) about a subject that has become all too familiar in our little town of Lamar – Heatstroke in athletics.
Both of these thoughts, losing your Mother to cancer and losing your child from a condition common to their passion, have left me saddened to the state of tears. I have personally experienced the loss of my own Mom to cancer and my daughter was on the field there beside T.D. the day he went down; one experience just this past year and the other over 18 years ago, yet the tears flow freely and the lump in my throat just won’t go away. Through blurry eyes I sit here typing as a method of therapy for me and others who know what I am referring to.
We want to comfort others in their time of hurt so we often share a hug, bringing them close to us. By wrapping them in our arms we relate that their pain becomes ours to help lessen their load. But often times, God has given us the gift of “experience” as a way to comfort those we care for. Empathy is to actually know through experience the pain they are feeling. It does not take away what they are feeling but can help them by knowing that others understand the feelings from inside that cannot be put into words.
While I truly know the feelings that are being experienced by the family of Ms. Sara Williams I don’t even pretend to understand what Mark and Tina have gone through. Losing a child has to be the most painful thing a person can live through. So the obvious question is – Why would God allow something like this? I don’t have the answer but I found comfort in my time of loss by knowing that my Mom’s strength shown through her death was such a witness to others. Sometimes people can see the love we have for our GOD through how we handle death just as much, if not more, than how we handle life. It’s easy to say “God loves you and wants to know you” when life is “good” but to say it when you are hurting, be it in a cancer-stricken state or when your child lays lifeless in a hospital bed before you, is SO powerful. To all who have done this, I commend you.
This emptiness I feel this morning is not only for those I care about who are suffering but is, in part, a selfish longing to hear my Mother’s voice again, to be wrapped in her arms and to share a laugh over something her grandchildren have done.
Life is too short to be wasted on petty squabbling among each other or to let pride stand in the way of something we know in hearts should be done. So… seize the moment and take action. If there is something left undone in your life, ask yourself if it is really important. If the answer is “yes” then start planning now to DO it.
To the Williams Family I want to say how sorry I am for your loss. You all have been through so much in losing both parents in such a short time but you have the strength of faith, family and friends to lift you up – let them!
To the Davenport Family I want to say that I am so in awe of how you have presented yourselves through all of this. You so eloquently stand before the public eye fighting for awareness and prevention so that others will not have to suffer as you have.
We have this moment to hold in our hands and to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand; Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come, But we have this moment today. – Gloria Gaither
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