This is not my poem, but I share it with you because the poet, CHRISTY SIMPSON, cannot. I have just returned from her memorial service. She wrote this during her four-year battle with cancer, and speaks so eloquently, as she did everything in her very active and upbeat life. I hope it blesses you.
Well, It's Like This
Cancer came into my life when...
I was most vulnerable, having loss after loss,
When I was working hard to integrate my mind, body and spirit.
It came to me when the sun shone brightly and I was able to surrender.
When I was the strongest in the family.
When I least expected it.
Living with cancer is like...
Riding a roller coaster, dancing in limbo, walking a tightrope
It's like waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Like a weight on my shoulders, like heartache.
It's like university, a school for higher learning
Where I wait for the next discovery, the unknown unfolding before me.
It's like living with a deadline reminding me to enjoy my life...
before it's too late.
It reminds me of...
A long journey that requires stamina
A board game with checkpoints, mile markers, a visible destination,
and hidden explosions along the way.
It reminds me of life's uncertainty, of love and hope,
of a challenge, of my precious life.
Of mortality.
Cancer has brought to me...
More good than bad, an opportunity to prioritize, a greater
appreciation of life.
It has brought me anger and fear and stress,
Hope and understanding.
Joy and more love than ever before.
It has brought a self discovery, cultivated insight, and the ability to
see life differently.
And I have learned...
More than I wanted to know about myself
About my inner resources and about receiving support from others.
About how to live with cancer, sometimes alone.
I have learned that I'm tougher than I thought.
That a cancer experience doesn'st mean my life is over.
I have learned patience, forgiveness, and how to be still
welcoming the calmness of spirit, to be fully present
in the moment.
To enjoy myself.
I have learned to live.
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Comments: 14
It's such a shame for the world to have lost so great a treasure so soon. (She had only recently celebrated her 50th birthday.)
Amorita, adversity can indeed be our friend, if we will remember during the trial that good can come from it . . . it's just so hard to think so positively when we're stressed!
welcoming the calmness of spirit, to be fully present
in the moment.
To enjoy myself.
I have learned to live."
This part was especially hard-hitting. I know exactly what she means, but it's a tragedy that she could not realise this without the help of danger pushing her to the edge... and then over it.
Be still, and know that I am God. (Jehova, Psalm 46:10)