Finding the Gold

I spoke yesterday of my box of cards. I spent some time last night reading the cards that line the walkway of this journey and was humbled by the words of love and support, by the sheer number of people who have reached out to me, who have shared of themselves and given of their hearts. Words of encouragement, gifts of prayer, personal statements of faith and friends offering up their inner selves in an effort to connect with me and lift me up. And connect with me they have. And as I trace this journey back to the beginning I realize that I had no idea how many friends I have, how many people who love and support me. What an incredible gift that knowledge has been, to know with certainty that there is a tangled web of support comprised of outstretched hands and loving arms which have held me up and carried me through when I was no longer able to walk myself. You, my friends, have been the messengers of God, acting as His hands and His feet, carrying His words from His mouth to my ears. What an honor it has been to be the recipient of that gift, to witness the actions of the Father through the deeds of my friends. I stand before you, humbled and grateful for allowing yourselves to be the tools of God. My heart has been peeled open and the layers ripped away revealing nothing but pure love, for you, my friends, my family, the network that helps sustain me.

This is one of the gifts of cancer. There are so many things that have been negatively impacted, so many pieces of my life that have been taken away, its hard to believe that there could be any positive aspects to this disease. But anyone can find a silver lining behind the darkest cloud if they just have the patience to wait for the storm to pass. I may find that I am simply in the eye and there is another tempest coming, but in this time, the light comes out and the truth of the voyage becomes evident, the reality of all that I’ve been through appears, and I can see the light and the dark intertwined together, creating a blueprint of life. For life is the intermingling of day and night, good and evil, peaks and valleys.

So although not everyone will experience a life threatening illness, and thank goodness for that, everyone experiences all the ups and downs that life has to offer. The goal is to find the gold amidst the dross and to fashion it into something beautiful.