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     | The Home Stretch…
Many, many people… I feel so blessed to have known such a great number who have helped me learn how to live. You’ve likely experienced the same. Wonderful individuals who have exemplified integrity, selflessness, generosity, hospitality, kindness, encouragement, and spirituality. And while I recognize the great value of this “living education”, I have been shown something else recently… something less obvious, but equally vital… someone teaching me not just how to live, but how to die…
She’s been in pain, but her attitude won’t reveal it. She’s got a hopeless condition, but a hopeful perspective. When medication hampered her ability to visit with and enjoy her family, she had it stopped. She may not like the process, but she’s not afraid of dying. She treasures moments of family… of worship… of the simple things in life. I have been awed by the height of her spirit in the midst of the depressing grip of cancer. A bleak situation. A bright smile. No physical solution. A very real Spiritual one…
Far too often, we learn all the ways to live properly only to forget them when death comes knocking at our door… There likely are very few lessons we are in more need of learning than how to handle our “home stretch”, our last few days on earth. Will they make a difference? How fortunate are those of us who have sat at her feet in the last few weeks. Learning. Loving. Preparing not only for a departure, but for an arrival. To leave a place of pain and stress for a place without… What hope! What a lesson! What an example of living out the message of the Holy Spirit spoken through Paul,
“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
Thank-you, sweet lady for the instruction… we see the job that remains… to not allow the lesson to stop with us… to now become the teacher…
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