My sweet neighbor and friend, Lila, died from complications from lung cancer this week. She was in her late seventies. She read this blog, encouraged me, and told me stories about her life and her grandchildren. She even came to my art opening last month at a little local shop.
The first week we moved into the neighborhood, she came over with some roses she and her husband had grown in their backyard. She was a beautiful person and I enjoyed getting to know over the years we lived across the street from each other.
I watched her (and her husband) suffer this last year as they treated her lung cancer, an aggressive disease. She lost her hair and often her breath, but not her faith or her hope in the Lord’s kindness. She and her husband grieved the loss of the future they had imagined together. She grieved not getting to watch her grandchildren grow up. She grieved for the pain she knew her husband would feel when he lost her.
Her beautiful black hair peppered with white began to grow back in the last few months. She started to try to walk the neighborhood that she had walked nearly every morning for years.
And then she was gone so quickly this week.
“It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
and the living will lay it to heart.”
(Ecc 7:2 ESV)
Here in the house of mourning, we, the living, should take heart.
Do you know how very precious your life is as a creature of God’s imagining, made in His image? Do you know that you were made for eternity? That you are not a passing jumble of dust, that your soul is eternal, made of the stuff of His?
Do you know that your worth is based on His design, not any standard pressed in on you by your culture? Do you know you can build a whole life around the worship of Him?
Do you know that you are beautiful and dear to Him and that He prepares a place for you for all eternity, the way opened to you freely in the Son, Jesus? That He delights to be with you?
Lila, my friend, what glory fills your eyes and heart now that you behold Him fully?
What work will He put in your hands to do that will fill you with joy and creativity?
Are you singing now with lungs full and expanding, a voice at times trapped in your soul as your body faded, but now free? The harmonies there must be beautiful.
Friend, I hope we can be neighbors again in the new heaven and new earth. The crazy pack of deer that roams our neighborhood won’t eat your roses anymore.
Maybe you’ll knock on my door again and bring me another vase of flowers from your glorious garden. I’ll marvel at how beautiful God made you and at how much you reflect Him. And we’ll talk for hours about how good He is and how good He was.
For now, I’ll miss you.
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
Psalm 16:1-2
I made this screensaver for you, dear readers, to use on your phone to remind of God’s goodness this month. I hope you enjoy it. Just click on one of the images below and save it to your phone.
I made this screensaver for you, dear readers, to use on your phone to remind of God’s goodness this month. I hope you enjoy it. Just click on one of the images below and save it to your phone.
*I’m so happy for you to enjoy my coloring pages and printables for your personal (not commercial) use! Use for Bible studies, church groups or events, and Sunday school classes are all fine! If you’re in doubt, I’m happy to answer any questions. All artwork and photos are copyright Marydean Draws. If you share this, thank you (!), and as a courtesy, please link back to this post and not the PDF file.
sorry for the loss of your sweet neighbor- they are truly gifts here on earth
Thank you, Connie. ❤️