For Sandy, Who I Never Knew

!
She was 42.
Was.

She leaves behind a husband. They were married 12 years. She leaves behind twin girls. They are 8. Her blood poisoned while the poison flowed in her to kill the errant cells.

How sad. How tragic.

Is it more of a tragedy for a young person to die than an old person? Of an old person, she's lived a full life, I say. She saw her grandchildren grow.

Aaah, but what if you were meant to live eternally? And now, after the Serpent tricked us, we only live 80? Not only that, we were meant to live eternally in a lush garden, filled with beautiful fruit, animals in coexistence keeping us company, you and your husband in complete unity. And your completely loving, completely just, completely all knowing and powerful Father, residing with you? Not the one that didn't play with you, or the one who drank too much. Not the one that hit you or your mother or much worse. You know what a good father is, even if you never had one.

Instead, you only get to live 80 paltry years, full of joys, full of growth. Thank God. But also full of tears. Wrinkles. Aches. Petty grievances.

And watching your 42-year old only child writhe in pain, but never complaining. Unrecognizable in her hospital bed.

Return to the Garden, through Jesus the Son. He is the way back to the Garden. No more tears, no more pain. And no wrinkles.