I would tell friends at work, when they asked me how I was doing, that my life in taking care of Sharon was like running the last section of a triathlon. The issue being that what you thought would be the finish line turns into having to run much longer and harder. In the real race, you can just quit. In my case, I had to keep running to cover Sharon’s life. She passed away, the Lord took her, after five years of struggling with her illness.
That is the backdrop. In my role as a church pastor and counselor, I prayed for and counseled many people that were dying. Those were epic times. Holding someone’s hand, praying for them, as the Lord takes them with incredible peace, the “peace that passes all understanding” as the Bible describes. My thinking was that I would be able to deal with Sharon finishing her race and be OK. She loved the Lord, loved others, incredibly gracious, and peace surrounded her in her death. Our conversation together just hours before her death, when she knew it would be just hours and she would be in the Lord’s hands: “Brian, I thought I would have longer than this. You know I forgive you for everything, don’t you?” “Yes, I love you.”
Hours later she was gone. I was crushed. The beautiful woman that loved to ski, cared for our children and grandchildren, forgave me for some incredible blunders, after 55 years, was gone.
Twelve months later I sense that a new life has been presented to me. Not that I would ever forget Sharon, I will always hold our lives together as sacred, but there has been an explosion of interest in other people, a new love for others and their lives. It is just amazing to me that amidst all the turmoil in the world, I have one-to-one relationships and conversations that give me incredible joy and peace. There is this incredible awareness that the Lord loves me, and has been loving me my whole life through people close to me and others, encouraging, directing, comforting, loving…