Last week we were able to spend some time with Kaleb Hardin's family. We attended the viewing and then the next day spent several hours after the funeral with the family and their guests. Though I felt some apprehension about stepping into their pain when our loss wasn't that long ago and when the story is close to home, I am so, so glad we went. I feel like we were invited into a sacred place -- the aftershock of a child's death and the immense grief of a parent for a son. It's a place most would fear to tread, but for us, it was holy ground, and we were honored to be a part of it. I felt so privileged to sit with April and Tyler, to share tears with them, to remember the beginning of our boys' lives at Egleston, to talk about the hope of Heaven, to smile about the ways in which our sons brought us joy. It was healing for both families, I think. Another Egleston family was there, too, with their precious 17 month old daughter, Sarah Beth, and we all loved watching her cruise around and seeing her be the picture of health despite a severe heart defect and another surgery looming in the not-too-distant future. I think it was good for our three heart families -- with very different stories and outcomes -- to reconnect, and I felt God's presence there as we remembered, hoped, and grieved.
Thank you, Hardins, for inviting us into your grief. We are better for it, and we are praying continually for you. I love to picture Samuel and Kaleb both enjoying Heaven and fully healthy and alive. Someday, we will get to see it firsthand, and as Stephen Curtis Chapman's pastor said after the death of his daughter, Maria, our boys are more a part of our future than they are of our past. We love you, Hardins, and our prayers will not stop.
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