A few months ago, Chuck and Cynthia were shocked to learn that their friend, Barb Madison, had been diagnosed with cancer and that she only had a short time left to live. She passed into the Lord’s presence on April 23rd, just 79 days after her initial diagnosis. But the legacy this remarkable woman left her family in the following letter to her grandchildren will never be forgotten.
Driving home from the doctor’s office, I tried to digest the news I received over a routine biopsy on what he thought was an infected gland. To say I was shocked at the news I had just received is putting it mildly. It seems the biopsy was labeled with that dreaded word, malignant. Stunned, surprised, and even shaken, are way too mediocre to express the feelings I had. Perhaps unbelief can best sum up the mixture of emotions that surged through my body.
All of a sudden (like instantly), I was jolted into facing the reality that my head had known for years but had never been embraced by my heart: we are mortal, and we are going to die. When I was young, I thought of death as something for old people, and now that I am old it still seemed like it was always out there in the future somewhere.
It was at that point that I remembered a verse I had memorized only a few days earlier. It jumped off the page at me as though God was speaking to me. “THIS IS THE ATTITUDE I WANT FROM YOU,” He said to me through Luke 1:38. The verse was originally Mary’s response to the angel, and I had often admired her reply. She said, “I am God’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever He wants.” Never in a million years did I think this would be what He wanted from me and ask me to accept. Peace flooded my soul though, as I acknowledged God and was willing to submit to His will. I knew in my heart it was time to get ready to go.
Granddad and I have traveled a lot in our 58 years of married life together. I have loved each and every trip. Part of the fun was the anticipation and planning what to take. Getting ready for this trip, however, was of a completely different nature. This trip was the trip of a lifetime and was the most important, most momentous trip I would ever make. I would be meeting the King of kings and Lord of lords, the God of all creation. How do you pack for that?
As I began to think about it, I realized I had one major problem. I couldn’t take anything with me. I was all that was going. I would be allowed to carry with me only what was already packed in my spirit and soul. I could take with me any of the changes the Holy Spirit had made in my life, any of the things that were of eternal value, and the verses I had committed to memory would certainly come along. Those were the very words of God.
Then, I thought of what God said about Himself. He said, “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit” (Isaiah 57:15 NIV). Isn’t it interesting that God did not choose to live with the wise people, the rich people, or the super-strong people? As great as God is, you would have thought He would have enjoyed their company more. On earth we tend to gravitate to people who think like we do and have similar ideas. But then it occurred to me that maybe that is the whole reason. Who could be more humble than God? In addition to everything else God is that makes him so great, He is also humble. What could be more humbling than to take upon yourself the likeness of a mere human being, walk among us with all our limitations, and then die for us? That is why He dwells with the ones who know what they are (corrupt to the core) and who they are (a complex human created by Him). Everything we have or are comes from God alone.
First Corinthians 4:7 states it plainly, “What makes you better than anyone else? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as if you have accomplished something on your own?” And 2 Corinthians 10:17 adds, “The person who wishes to boast should boast only of what the Lord has done.“ So, in reality, the only things worth packing or that are packable for me are the things God Himself has done. The things He has done IN me and THROUGH me. I can only hope there are a few of those there. I can’t go back in time and relive the wasted moments that I sought things for myself and aspired to self-praise and glory, or erase all the times I was busy feathering my own nest; but I can relate this truth to you: you have a lifetime ahead of you.
My parting words to you would be to change your focus today and set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:2). For the things which are seen are temporal and the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). This is not easy when you are young because everything seems to be screaming the opposite and appealing to your ego to make a name for yourself or to achieve so you can have more. I know, because I have been there, but if anyone can do it, if anyone can live life with an eternal perspective, I am betting on the best 13 grandchildren God ever made.
Remember, heaven is home. I’ll be waiting for you and will see you when you get there.
With all my love,
Noney
