I got an email today from an old friend that just blew me away. Sometimes a person out of nowhere says just the thing you need to hear at just the right time. I got such a message today.
And it meant a whole lot to this gray headed guy who is running in fifteen different directions.
Stopped me in my tracks actually.
She originally sent me an email a couple of days ago to tell me she was enjoying reading my blogs. I had no idea she was reading them. She told me that her daughter in law works at a bank where I will be speaking for their Christmas banquet in a couple of weeks.
As I was reading her email, it dawned on me that she would make a great topic for a blog so I replied to her email and asked for permission to write about her. She is a remarkable lady who has walked through the fire and came out on the other side without getting burned.
It was her reply to that email that knocked my socks off.
About eight years ago I buried her five year old daughter. I cannot imagine life getting more difficult than someone losing a child. I also can't even begin to imagine what this family had to go through.
But I was more than her funeral director. We were close friends and more like family. We went to church together and spent many hours together before the illness and eventual death of this precious little girl. My wife and I visited the hospital regularly during those last weeks and we (along with a whole lot of other folks) did some grieving of our own.
What knocked my socks off was the fact that this mother remembered all the details of everything I did eight years ago as it related to that funeral. She said those memories are “seared” in her mind. She reminded me of things that I had forgotten.
But what I had not forgotten is how much I hurt with this family during those days leading up to and after her death.
And what I have not forgotten is the special privilege it has been to be in a profession and in a position to use my talents and experience to walk someone through the most difficult time of their life.
Enduring friendships have been the result.
That privilege is forever seared in my mind.
1 comment:
Thank you, Bruce, for your comments. Most importantly, though, thank you for being a consistently faithful brother in Christ. As a mother who has been broken in so many ways by the loss of a dearly loved child, I have also been blessed in so many more ways. All the glory belongs to the Lord; much love goes to you.
Rena
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