A Sword Will Pierce

Simeon tells Mary, “and you yourself a sword will pierce” (Luke 2: 35) When I read this I immediately thought of the mothers of my cancer patients at the hospital. A mother’s heart is pierced whenever she has to watch her child suffer. It is such a helpless feeling, yet placing our child in God’s hands is the only answer. Every mother I have met over the years tells me that she wished she could take her child’s cancer on herself and endure all her child’s suffering. Sometimes friends and family members tell them that they “could never do it.” What a silly thing to say. These parents didn’t choose this path, and there are times when they feel that they can’t do it either but they don’t have a choice. So they do the only thing that will get them though this, they place their child in God’s hands. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

The strength these parents and children show is an example for all of us. And they give God the glory for the strength they receive from him. Being a disciple of Christ doesn’t mean that life won’t be hard or without tragedy. And while it is appalling that a child is taken from a mother while she is on her knees praying for his healing; what we are promised is that we will be held in the palm of His hand. We will be able to go on because of His love for each one of us. He stores each of our tears; none of them are shed without his notice. 

My mother buried three children before she died. Her first child, Kathryn, died when she was only 8 days old. After my brother Mitchell died at the age of 18, she said that she could not survive the death of another child. But when my brother Kevin died 6 years later at the age of 25, she did survive. My mother’s heart was pierced many times during her lifetime and it is only by the grace of God that she survived them. Her faith and hope in the promise that we will all be united again in God’s heavenly kingdom allowed her to go on and not despair. When my mom was suffering so much her last few days on earth we kept reminding her that Kathryn, Kevin and Mitchell were there ready to greet her and that it was ok to let go. It is that same promise that allowed us to let go of our mother even though we knew our heart would be pierced by the sadness of her death.