A few years ago, I said to good-bye to 4 close friends as they made their way through cancer diagnosis, treatment, terminal illness and death. My best friend, Sharon, was one of those and there are times when I wonder what God was thinking.
Sharon faced her failing health and heartbreaking grief with courage and fear, resolve and despair, faith and doubt as any ordinary person might. The thing that was extraordinary was her honesty and sense of humour. We talked about “the God of broad shoulders” and trusted that He could take whatever she threw at Him. Following the examples of the psalmists, she really let Him have it. It was a laid-bare place where God met her, responding in the sweetness of His presence and with His own unique sense of humour. For Sharon, beauty and peace were the result.
She liked to say that this journey was also mine. I prayed for the ability to slip int
o her skin; to know as best as another could. It was in my dreams that I gained a measure of understanding. It was the place where I was her and she was me. People ask me how Sharon coped; how I coped and I say it was God’s grace alone. It’s true.
No, there is nothing in particular that reminds me of her this autumn season. It is everything in general. And although I don’t grieve like people I know who feel they have no hope of being reunited with loved ones, and I do hope to see her again, I miss her.
