Enduring Well...

I have a dear friend who has terminal pancreatic cancer. She is a friend from church. She is an avid quilter.
One of the men at church has a family member who owns a quilt shop. He had a wonderful idea to make a quilt for this dear lady with quotes from the members at church who sent him quotes. The quotes were embroidered by machine onto white squares and then a quilt was made from the quotes. We all helped wherever we could in making this lovely secret for our friend.

Sunday the quilt was delivered and accepted with all the love that it intended to carry in the giving and the receiving of this beautiful gift.

Today I went to my friends home to pick up her laundry that needs to be ironed. This is one small thing I can do that will help a little. She has the lovely quilt hanging on her stairs so she can see it all day while sitting in her living room.

Then she took me to her basement where she is making a beautiful wedding quilt for her little granddaughter. She has made one for each of her grandchildren. While this little one is many years from marriage, she wanted to be sure there was a quilt left for her before she passes away. This lovely little child was adopted from China and the quilt has Chinese fabrics in it. It is simply stunning. It is on the quilt frame and we will be invited to come and help with the quilting.

Sunday, my friends hubby sent an eMail with pictures of the quilt we made for her to thank everyone for this gift.

Look at the grin on this adoring hubby's face. Now look at the grin on my father's face in this picture.

This afternoon I spent time at the nursing home watching my father lovingly feed his bride. I cut their hair also before I left. Then I went to my friends home and visited with her. Needless to say, as I left her home to head to mine my brain was ready to pause and absorb all it had seen and my heart needed to assess what it was feeling. I left the radio and CD player off in my car so I could just ponder and understand the overwhelming feeling I was experiencing.

It seems to me that both these good men are happy at a very difficult time in their marriages even though each is watching their partner slowly prepare to leave this frail existence. That is a hard, hard, hard thing to go through over a long period of time. In my mother's case we understood in 2002 that this was Alzheimer's and it would take her life. My friends have know since the beginning of the year. Yet...there are smiles on those men's faces.

I came to the conclusion that I know the reason I am  here on earth, I know what I should be doing while I am here, and I know what happens after I pass from life on this earth. But looking at these two men caring for their wives made all that understanding extremely poignant today.

I felt a calm come over me that all this is happening as it should be happening. It isn't fun or pretty, but it is the stuff of life. We are not made stronger by having everything easy and pleasant all the time. We are made stronger by enduring well those challenges that we are asked to deal with while here on earth. We don't always choose our challenges but we can choose how we will deal with them.

For my part, I'm resolved more than ever to make sure every visit I have with these precious ladies over whatever time they have left is full of love and positive expressions of service. I shall have no 'pity party' over these difficulties. I shall look for the learning experiences in each day with them. There are indeed lessons to be learned, good lessons. And when it comes time to part with them for a season, I'll shed tears for the brief time we'll be apart, but I'll know that I did my best as they finished their journey here on earth. That will bring me peace. And I will have a stronger understanding of the real reasons we are here on earth and what this life is really, really all about.