Song of Solomon 2 Behold, there He stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me:Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
Early this morning I learned that one of my favorite patients lost her battle with cancer. Her son and daughter posted on Facebook that after a long struggle for life she had died quietly in her home, with her family, in her sleep.
My beloved speaks and says to me:
Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
I never loved nursing until I began working in Oncology. Cancer patients are unique. They are a people of right priorities. It seems that their values line up correctly. They soften and steel themselves in all the right places of their hearts. That is they soften and become tender in their feelings toward the things and the people that really matter. And they harden themselves to face the challenges that lie ahead and arm themselves with the will to fight for life. In the end, most face the reality of their mortality and learn to die with dignity and grace. They are beautifully courageous.
It seems to me that they are unique in the dying process. They are privileged if you will. Instead of facing death instantly they become acquainted slowly. They acclimate. This sounds strange, I know, but they transition, as it were, from the living to what is to be. To what they are to become. It is a process that can be watched. With awe. Slowly becoming more absent than present. Often they begin to live more in the next world than in this one. It is as if they begin to visualize a world that we cannot yet see. Listening for a voice that we cannot yet hear.
Song of Songs O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice, let me hear it.
Behold, there He stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me:
Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
Father I love this life that You have given me. I am grateful for our friendship. Thank You for all the things in my life. You have been so good to me. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of, to be a witness to these wonderful people with cancer. Thank You for the lessons that they have taught me. When it comes time for me to die give me the courage to die gracefully. May I see You there behind the wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. Let me hear You say to me, "Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away with Me. Please say hello to Olivia and tell her that she is beautiful inside and out and she will be missed.
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