[My long-time =
friend Wayne went thru 2018 watching his sweet wife Ev who was battling =
cancer slowly transitioning from this world to the next. He wrote this =
tribute at Christmas]
I was in my =
study late on Christmas Eve and for some reason sat back in my chair and =
studied the collages a dear friend had assembled for the funeral last =
July—and after a while it struck me—most of the pictures =
were taken in the last year.
As long as =
I’d known her she’d been camera-shy; never wanted me =
snapping pictures of her alone. “I look a mess” etc. etc. =
However, at some point she had begun to suggest, “Here, take a =
picture of me by this tree…or…take my picture with the =
sunset behind me.” It never dawned on me until now—she knew =
her time on earth was limited, and she knew I would desperately want =
photos to remember her by, and she made sure I had =
them.
I had no =
idea.
She had also =
swapped out the drapes in the living room, got rooms repainted, did =
major landscape renovations in the yard, and upgraded appliances. It =
wasn’t until after the funeral that one of her friends confided, =
“she wanted the place to look nice for you, Wayne.” She did =
that because she loved me, and that pure, precious love is radiating =
even from the grave.
She told =
another of her friends, “Wayne will be fine,” and I wondered =
what she meant—until the Christmas season arrived. My church =
family has embraced me in ways I never imagined. I have been cared for, =
prayed for, and yearned for. With my sons and their families so far =
away, my daughter-in-law’s family pulled me in, embraced me, and =
made me one of their own.
Yes, of course =
there are times when I am lonely. There are times when I miss her so =
much it hurts. But not for long. The God of love and mercy, who sees us =
in our distress and who has experienced all the loneliness and hurt =
it’s humanly possible to bear, unleashes his love into my little =
world. The phone rings, the doorbell sounds, texts arrive, emails pop =
up…and I feel his tender love radiating through his people. =
They said my =
first Christmas would be painfully hard. It could have been–but for the =
unfathomable love God poured out on me. And no doubt a million others =
like me.
~~
Dr Bob Griffin =
[email protected] =
www.grif.net
"Jesus =
Knows Me, This I Love!"