Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Blessings of Cancer   [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Did we mention Tony was an optimistic man? Here's Tony Snow, from Christianity Today:

we shouldn't spend too much time trying to answer the why questions: Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can't someone else get sick? We can't answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer.

I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care. It is what it is—a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.

But despite this—because of it—God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.

One has the impression that Tony Snow worked hard in his life among us with today in mind, that face-to-face meeting. May we all have that end in mind every day of our lives.

07/12 09:50 AMShare