By David Coy
Sunrise
“I am much more aware of the uncertainty of mortal life at a much deeper level, and of the certainty of God’s care. I have a feeling that cancer is being washed, driven out of me by a flood of prayer and love. Live one day at a time. Cancer is a threat to my being. Yet it is no such threat. We can trust the truth: We are on solid ground. Prayer opens up enormous resources. Love becomes a visible reality. Never minimize the priceless gift of natural sleep.” This was a statement made by a husband that his wife found after his death from cancer. She seemed to describe him as denying the cancer, stating, “He put out of his mind the lump….’” (We Live with Dying, Johnson, 1975). From my reading he did not deny his death throughout but perhaps took longer to accept the reality than his wife understood.
Others may indeed deny death, and one such practitioner claims that a large segment of society lives in fear. The fear manifests itself especially when a terminal illness arises. He says often he hears people initially proclaim it is pain and suffering they fear, but when medicine reduces the pain, then people reveal their real fear is death and the question of beyond the grave. Do we as an increasingly humanistic society with superficial religious overtones truly deny death? Death is a natural expectation, but we live unprepared. We can help you face your reality. Come to our grief support group and share your experiences with others who can benefit and allow them to share their experience with you possibly benefitting from them.
This is Sunrise Aftercare, sunrise@sfdcares.com.
