She sat across from me, leaning in, with tears in her eyes.  She listened to the story.

Today (Monday) I’m having surgery.  A simple procedure.  I recently tore my ACL and meniscus playing basketball in a school-wide event.  The injury warrants arthroscopic surgery.  “A simple procedure,” I’m told.  I know better.

loisI bring a different perspective to this day.  My mother-in-law died from complications of the same surgery twelve years ago.  A blood clot from her leg traveled to her lungs and she died.  It happened quickly, before all of our close-knit farm family could make it to the hospital.  It rocked our world.  After that day, our life was never the same.

As my friend listened to the story of why this day brings immense pain, her eyes welled with tears.

She got it.

I’m not afraid of the surgery.

I’m not afraid of dying.

I’m reliving the pain of a day that changes your life forever.    The moment when everything you know around you is not the same anymore, the moment when God seems to be everything you never thought He would be.   The moment when your heart shatters into a million pieces.

I’m reliving the memory of a someone who loved with a pristine love.  A love I’ve never experienced before or since.  A love that was so good that when it is ripped away the pain infiltrates every part of your body.

As my friend sat there, listening to me ramble, she got it.  She got the depth of the love, the depth of the loss, and the depth of the moment.  

Through her tears, though she knew nothing of the situation, she understood the depth certain moments bring to our lives and the depth of love that is so dear.  She understood this is not just another day, just another surgery, just another death in the family.

She understood how deeply this life moment impacts me.MP900289480

She didn’t pass it off, or let me know others have it worse than I do.

She listened.  She heard.  She cared.

She was a glimpse of the woman I miss so deeply, a woman who loved well in moments others may overlook.

Our eyes met.   The tears rolled.  And deep called to deep.

And we cried.

Lord, Jesus, thank you for people in our lives who are your eyes and ears.  Thank you for people in our lives who understand us, who take time to listen, who love others well.  Thank you that behind every emotion, you know the reasons why.  Thank you for each of us with a story behind the story, you know and you care. Amen.

I’d love to hear who, in your life, has loved you well?

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