I was excited when I picked up the mail that day. There was a letter from our good friend, Edna. Edna and I went back a long way. I got to know her when I was a pre-teen. She was the leader of our church young people's group, and best friend to my oldest sister. Edna was the sort of person who made everyone laugh. She was the life of the party. She was ageless—a youngster with the young, a confidant to young marrieds, a friend to the middle-agers, an aide to the elderly.
And Edna carried over into my married life, too. About twice a year we would get a long detailed, hand written letter from her. It would be packed full of news of people from the church I grew up in; clippings of happenings in her present church (her husband was a lay pastor); and funny incidents and jokes that she had collected. We always looked forward to Edna's letters.
However, this letter was different. Our joy at hearing from Edna that day turned to sadness when she told us that she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and had very little time to live.
But was Edna sad about this? Edna had always lived her life to the fullest, and now that she knew her time was limited on earth, she was not sad. She knew that before her was the better of the two choices: to live, or to die. She was ready to go. She instructed all her friends that there was to be no crying at her passing.
I Corinthians 15: 55-58 "0 death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory?...The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law...But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ...Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."
I just picked up my mail today.
I heard a friend was dying.
It made me heart-sick, and so sad.
I felt so much like crying.
But then the thought came clear to me:
This is no time for sighing.
For thanks to Christ, who rose again,
Death's sting she'll be defying.
My friend, whose body's wearing out,
May soon be called to glory.
(Yet, those whom she will leave behind,
I know that they'll be sorry.)
But soon they'll join her in the clouds
To sing the old, old story:
How Christ, our Savior paid the price
To save us from God’s fury.
You’ve fought the fight of faith, my friend.
Your “race” will soon be over.
A crown of life is promised you
By Christ, the Lord, Jehovah.
He’s waiting there, in that Fair Land—
The Land beyond death’s river.
You soon shall see the Father’s face,
And praise His name forever.
II Timothy 4:7-8: “I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith…Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
Edna passed over to the glory side soon after we had received that letter. She was an inspiration to everyone with whom she came in contact. She will be missed, but we know that she is in a far better place.
© Helen Dowd
