This one will test your faith.
Her name means “eternal life”, but little did her mommy and daddy know that such eternality would arrive so soon. She was only two.
My sister told my wife and me about her a few months ago when the little girl was diagnosed with a very aggressive leukemia. Without chemo she had no chance; with it she had a small chance. It wasn’t good. Her parents had the tough decision of letting her die or trying a risky treatment that had a good chance of keeping her alive if she could live through it. The chances of her living through the chemo were slim, but without it her death was certain.
I could sense my sister’s sadness and her own struggle with understanding it all. Even as Christians, these are the toughest of situations to witness. It quickly reminded me that the things I get bogged down with in life are so trivial. Who really cares about the next Cowboys game, or who will win between Obama and McCain, or when the next episode of my favorite TV show comes on? All I could ask myself was, “What if this was Chloe, Sidney or Quinn?”.
Then I would cry.
Her parents were related to a good friend of my sister so there was some emotional distance between us and them as we received the updates. We didn’t know them at all but as parents, Christians and fellow human beings, our hearts and prayers were with them. Since my wife and I have become parents we almost have to plug our ears and cover our eyes when a story about a hurting child comes our way. It’s just too much. We have two girls that are three and baby boy that just turned one. Only a parent can understand the tie that binds the heart of a parent to a child. Nothing is stronger. Nothing.
My sister had started spending time with the toddler at the hospital during her treatments in order to allow her parents a chance to rest. She would call us and sadly tell us about the child’s demise and how the medicine that could save her was destroying her. I will never forget the image that came to my mind when she told us about a doctor who came in to give her treatment that just stood there and cried like a baby over her. “It never gets easier”, the doctor said.
The Bible says faith without works is dead and certainly death without faith is even worse. But sometimes tears are all that faith can muster. There are no words another can say. There are no answers that make sense. And certainly nothing explains how a little girl that was reading books in her mommy’s lap a month ago is now gone. Sometimes the only thing you can do is cry and hold on. You have to depend on family, friends and even strangers for prayer, because words simply won’t come out.
For a long time Julie and I cried deep inside about this little girl. But, tonight we cried out loud.
She is now with a broken hearted Jesus; a Jesus that cried as He watched her suffer and hurt, a Jesus that couldn’t bare it anymore and called her home, and a Jesus that now holds her in His arms and weeps for the suffering of her family.
The questions we have will not be answered here and the pain many have will only slightly dim in time. But faith, even collected as tears, is an incredible guide to the life beyond the here and now. And surely, she has been restored, healed and is happy once again.
Her short but courageous life is a reminder to us to all to focus on love, the beauty of family and the strength of faith.
Though in our minds she went too early, Eternity was always her destinatio
n. And now for years to come she will be a star showing us all how to get there.In time, she will sing and dance with mommy and daddy once again. But for now, little Skylar plays with Jesus and reads the books she never got to finish.
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:4
(Skylar – female, English – eternal life, strength, love, beauty)
http://baby-names.adoption.com/search/Skylar.html
© 2008, J. Brady
"I say it how I see it and I make no bones about it."
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