Hearing the words, “you have stage four Lymphoma cancer” is not what you ever want to hear.
On January 8 of this year, I heard it. It’s a hollow and scary feeling. Your life begins to appear before your eyes and you wonder if this will mean the end.
Life is all we have; it’s all we know. Sounds so obvious—yet what we do with our time is so often wasted on things we could do without. We could all insert a list here. Yet, my ensuing cancer journey for the next five months was a blessing. That’s right, a blessing.
Why? When you are facing possible death, you start thinking about what matters. You take inventory of your life and wonder, if you get the chance, what would you do if you beat this?
I can tell you that it’s not more of the same! If you are open, I believe you’ll see God working in your midst and on your behalf—as I did. And so often it was in the form of God’s family here on earth; doctors, nurses, support people, friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, colleagues and other people who’ve been in your position. Their ministry (to serve and to care) for you can be the difference in beating the scourge. It happened for me.
People in America can get weird when hearing about faith. I’m not talking about religion here, as that’s the last thing anyone needs, whether sick or healthy. I’m talking about a relationship, which is about love, not impossible rules.
We all need love. The Beatles said it was all we need. I would take that a step further. We all need to give love, too. Giving to others is truly “more blessed than receiving.” If anyone is ever sick, down or depressed—giving to others is a great way to get back on track.
It’s okay. Love is good in business, too. People in business need love and they need to see it, feel it, give it and hear it. Last night we had a big party to celebrate my remission from cancer. It was the final healing for me to say to so many people how I loved them.
Hearing it back was wonderful, too.
Now on to things that matter…
“Loving you is the best thing I ever did.”
—Anonymous