Tribute

I just saw an obituary today that makes me both sad and joyful. A woman I didn't know very well but who had, unbeknownst to her, a truly profound impact on me as a young woman, passed away today - nearly 22 years after her only son.

My heart is heavy for the loss; while I haven't seen her since her son's memorial service 22 years ago, it was that day that I learned from her a tremendous lesson about faith. At what had to be the most difficult, heartwrenching moment of her life, she comforted me, and went on to speak at the service about how, sad as she was to lose him in this life, she knew with every ounce of her being that her son was in a better place, personally called home by God. I couldn't fully understand at the time how she could be so calm and so forgiving at what was clearly such an unfair tragedy, but what I definitely understood at that moment for the first time and perhaps more poignantly than any time before or since, was the power that faith holds for those who are fortunate enough to find it. Here was a person facing grief beyond measure, and yet she was comforted and at peace, entirely and solely because she believed. I have never forgotten her composure, her love, or the strength of faith she displayed that day, and I thank her for a contribution to my life that she probably never knew she made, but which means more to me than she could ever have known, even if I had told her.

At the same time, I am thrilled for her - happy that she is finally at rest after a long illness, that she can finally be reunited with her son, and that she is able to finally meet the Lord in which she had such an abounding faith. May heaven exceed your every expectation, Sherri, and may you rest eternally in God's peace. Thank you.