Transitions

transitions
tim pezzelle
2011-05

is there anything greater than a mother's love for her children?  i've seen the answer to this question unfold in same time span that God uses to bring a new human life into this world.  sherry answered this question for me, and the impact of that answer has changed me, yet again, forever.
 
 
in 1996, we made the decision to home school our daughters.  sherry was the driving force behind this decision.  there are as many reasons for home-schooling as there are home-schoolers.  for sherry, the decision was a matter of cashing in on the second chance that God had given her.  in 1991, she was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma.  we prayed that we would get to raise our daughters together; that God would intervene and restore her health.  He did.  sherry's response to His mercy was to invest herself completely in amy and paige.  is there anything greater than a mother's love for her children?
 
 
in 2009, our younger daughter (paige) graduated from (home school) high school.  with hindsight, we can see that this is about the same time that sherry's new symptoms started.  sherry had spent the previous 13 years educating her girls - day in, day out.  good days and bad days.  sweet moods and sour moods.  co-ops and road trips.  extra curriculars and extra credits.  i watched a mom give herself completely to the idea that God had spared her for a purpose, and she wasn't going to let it slip away unattended.  is there anything greater than a mother's love for her children?
 
 
later in 2009 we received another diagnosis: metastatic esophageal carcinoma.  cancer of the esophagus to you and me.  it took three separate tests to completely diagnose this disease, and after each test we would head home, stopping somewhere along the way for a fizzy coke - sherry's preferred method of dealing with difficult times.  between phone calls to family and sips, we shared tears.  we had been through this before and it didn't seem exactly fair for that history to repeat itself. 
 
 
what does this have to do with transitions?  sherry loved her life.  she loved me...  she loved amy and paige... her family.... her friends.... her work... her clients....  a good book....  a funny movie....  her home....  a good meal....  a great cup of coffee... seeing new places.... meeting new people....  making a difference....  i look at all of that and can't help but see so much to hold on to.  those tears were an acknowledgment of how much was at stake - how much there was to lose. 
 
 
over the next 9 months, there were more tears... but there was laughter too.  there were the trials of chemotherapy and the tender moments of our family huddled together in the house God had given us - and sherry made home.  there was also a transition taking place.  as bad news turned more hopeful and ultimately dimmed again, i watched God escort my sherry (well, His sherry really) from holding on to this life, to reaching out for real life.  transitions.
 
 
as we did everything we could to fight off the disease, God was moving sherry from this world to His kingdom.  He was reminding her of His faithfulness.  He was giving her everything she needed to let go of the old so that she could embrace the new.  transitions.
 
 
is there anything greater than a mother's love for her children?  yes.  a mother's love for God and the confidence that everything He said is true.  i am blessed beyond my ability to articulate.  i had a front row seat to the most amazing thing i'll ever see.  i have seen faith become sight without a shred of regret.  i have held the hand of hope as it reaches for assurance without looking back.  in living, sherry showed me what it means to walk with God.  in dying, sherry showed me what it means to walk to God.
 
 
i think sherry would whole-heartedly agree with this advice (because she lived it):  live on purpose for His glory.  run the race knowing that it has a finish line.  trust that the really important things are in God's hands - as they've always been.  it's just a hop, skip and a jump into His presence.