“She’s gone.” Those were the saddest and worst words I had ever heard. “She” was my wife. As I looked at her lifeless body, I was stunned by the suddenness of her death. At the time she was admitted to the hospital, I had already been informed that my wife’s condition was terminal. Yet, I had hoped that I would have enough time to prepare for what was to come. I didn’t.
The hardest part of my ordeal took place just a few minutes later, when my nine-year-old son Dawson arrived at the hospital. I had to tell him that he had lost his mother. Nothing could have prepared me for his reaction. He wailed as if he was on fire, and I could do nothing to alleviate his pain.
A storm was raging within my life. Like a hurricane, it threatened to cause havoc. Yet, the storm did not destroy me. Like a ship at sea, I had an anchor to keep me from being tossed about. I had a shelter for my heart, a haven for my soul. It was the same faith that sustained my wife during the years that she battled cancer. It was the source of the hope that I had of being reunited with my wife once my time on Earth was over.
The loss of my wife meant that I alone had to teach my son the things that his mother and I wanted to teach him. While Dawson was still in his mother’s womb, I began writing down lessons that I wanted him to learn, lesson about life in general and lessons about Christianity in particular. The loss of Dawson’s mother signaled that it was time for me to formalize what I wanted him to learn from me. It was time to put those lessons in a collection that he could read.
This is that collection. I have placed it online in case something that I have written could benefit someone besides Dawson, someone else in need of a soul haven.
Note: The author's wife passed away on July 3, 2010.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
In Memory of Maelenna
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Author: David W. Robertson
davidwrobertson@yahoo.com
