Last week as I was reflecting on the end of Miller’s earthly life and considering whether I should post a comment or not (I’d already personally said everything I wanted to say to him) a friend stopped by. As we sat in the shade on a way-too-early-to-be-this-hot Colorado morning, he filled me in on his recent cycle of therapy for an aggressive and advanced form of cancer. As he did I realized he wasn’t himself and his thoughts were disjointed. One moment He was in the present and the next he was telling me about terrible things he’d done and said decades ago before I knew him. As I listened, he suddenly said, “You going to need to help me. I’m dealing with chemo confusion.”
Our visit turned out to be a gift of clarity. Who I knew this friend to be (a fine Christian gentleman) was not who he knew himself to have been through much of his life. He had needed (and received) much grace.
Shortly after he left I was looking for some how-to help on the web and YouTube tried to distract me (as they always do). I took the bait and clicked on an interview with famed Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield. Now entering his 60’s what would he say to his 20 year old self. “Every single person you meet is struggling...They are looking for significance. They are trying to do the best they can and they fail regularly...so cut them some slack. Don’t let them off the hook but recognize the shared nature of being a human being and let people be themselves, make some allowances for them, treat people a little more kindly as a result.”
We’re all struggling. We’re all terminal.
We all need some grace.
