This week I’m going to diverge from my usual blog focus, and do a little reflection. A couple of months ago I shared some inspiring quotes from an interview I watched with Warren Buffett – you can read that post here. One of the statements he made that really struck me was, “If you can tell me who your heroes are, I can tell you how you’re going to turn out. It’s really important to have the right heroes.” I think he is very much on target with that statement because our heroes reflect what we value, where we want to end up, who we are striving to be.
Have you ever thought about who your heroes are? My hero is my mom. This week she has been even more on my mind than usual, because she passed away from pancreatic cancer last year about this time. Those of you familiar with this cancer know it is a very difficult way to die, and my mom finished so strong.
Her last week of life was filled with a lot of suffering. She endured some huge physical challenges – and through it all she kept her sense of humor and continued to honor and bless other people. She continued to be as others-centered in her last days as she was throughout her life. She was kind and loving and expressed gratitude and appreciation to her caregivers and her family up to the end.
It was such a privilege to be able to help care for her, especially during her last week of life here on earth. My mom had a very strong faith in Christ, and she truly lived it out. During her last months she shared thru her Caring Bridge site, “The Big C (cancer) is not scary, as I belong to a bigger C…Christ.” And she meant it – you couldn’t help but see it, to see Him, through her. To witness her strong faith in action and the grace given to her in her suffering was such a privilege, and I am so inspired by the legacy she gave me.
But Mom didn’t just finish strong, she lived her life that way. She was an incredibly strong, resilient, and determined woman. And she was very intentional. She invested and engaged, and strove for excellence in all that she did. She was deeply committed to her family – incredibly caring and devoted. She remembered the details of what was going on in her friends and family’s lives. She CARED. And you knew it. She cared actively – she was intentional and engaged, and went the extra mile to follow up and ask how things were going.
My mom’s legacy inspires me daily to live out my faith in an others-centered, engaged, intentional way. I have to tell you, I think I have an awesome hero. Who’s yours?
Blessings,
