My guest today is Andrew Budek-Schmeisser. Andrew is a reader of this blog and his comments have left me deeply moved so often that I asked him to write a post for us. Andrew is terminally ill, and it has changed the way he views the world in remarkable and beautiful ways. I want to take notes on living from the dying.
Yes, I’m terminally ill. My wife went to the doctor last week, and the receptionist asked, tentatively, “Your husband…is he still alive?”
That was a weird feeling, when she told me.
The doctor himself thinks I’m pretty far past my sell-by date…and he’s always surprised, too, that I’m still here. He’s thinking of writing a paper for a medical journal.
Really weird feeling, yeah?
But it reflects the truth. I’m losing ground steadily, and now spend large parts of each day lying on the floor in a fetal position, waiting for the pain to, well, not pass, but moderate to the point that I can get up again and do something. If nausea, incontinence, and fatigue allow for it. And if I remember what I wanted to do in the first place.
Something like writing this. It will take me quite awhile. I run out of physical and mental resources pretty quickly now.
And I still love my life. I would not trade this life for anything, including having my old health and vigour back.
It’s not because I’ve overdosed on Scripture like James 1:2 (“Count it all joy, your afflictions and trials…”) or Romans 5:3 (“…rejoice in your sufferings, because suffering produces endurance…”)
Make no mistake, James and Paul are right, but it wasn’t something I could take on faith. I had to learn these lessons myself, through facing the abyss, day after day. Looking for blessings in my life became vital for survival, a necessary antidote to the despair that could so easily overwhelm me.
Yes, illness brought blessings, and the fact that it seems like there’s no way out makes them even more precious.
It took time to recognize them, those blessings that came in frightening garb. I was a high achiever, and always had multiple projects going on, projects which I thought defined me, and validated my worth.
But now…those aspirations won’t come to pass, and it’s OK.
The goals are not what made the dreams worthwhile. They never were, and I’m so glad I saw that ere the end. It was all about the process, and the marks that the process made on my soul.
Each moment is a gift from God, and like the manna that fed the Israelites in the desert, each is perishable. Moments can’t be hoarded for later use, and they’re not intended for replanting in the hope that they will raise some of some future harvest.
We can come to each instant in our life fresh, with the heart and eyes of a child, taking hold of this precious uniqueness of now in wonder and delight…or we can choose to be jaded, and to pile the moment in with the past wreckage that attends present circumstances.
I choose wonder. I choose delight. And I choose to hold these tiny time-intervals dear, and as a direct line to the God that loves me in spite of my mistakes, and through my current ordeal.
It is an ordeal. The pain is real; I could see it as a prison; I haven’t been off the property in eight months. Riding in a car hurts too much, and there’s nowhere I can sojourn in comfort. I can’t do the things I would have liked to do, and much of the time is spent trying to build strength and resolve to do the things I have to do.
It isn’t a penitentiary, though. It’s more of a hermitage, a place in which the fires of adversity can temper my soul to become an instrument of God’s love, and the hammering of pain forges my heart to become that love.
Each moment from the Almighty that I choose to treasure, and which I choose to do my best for His sake, it adds to the storehouse of love that I can show.
Each stab of pain builds compassion for those who are worse off; there are so many suffering with no place to call home, no one to love them. I have a wonderful wife, a group of devoted dogs (some of whom know how to save my life, doing a canine version of CPR…they’ve done it several times), and friends I’ll never meet in person but whose hearts have reached out to me through the Internet. How can I complain about a small thing like dying?
Each realization that yeah, this could be the last day, it makes the sunlight brighter and the air sweeter, and the touch of a cool breeze on a summer day a gentle benison from Heaven.
With all this, how can I keep from singing? And more importantly, how can I keep from loving?
Achievement is nice, but it’s not for this that God made us.
Success is grand, but it isn’t God’s ultimate plan for our lives.
A bright future is wonderful, but it’s not something God ever guaranteed.
What we have is now, and we have a simple mission statement – to love God with all our hearts, and to love our neighbours as ourselves.
We learn to love God through the practice of loving others, and we can only truly love others when we let go of ourselves. Jesus was and is the servant and sacrifice to those He loved and loves. He laid the stones along the path we are to take.
And in dying, I have learned to let go. I have let go my earthly hopes and aspirations, giving them over to God. I’m sure He’ll treat them with care; He saves each tear we shed, and can we expect He will do less with the dreams He gave us, that we couldn’t fulfill in this life? They’ll be waiting.
I’ve learned to let go of my concern for myself. Yes, it hurts, but it’s OK that it hurts; I was never in control of this, though I tried to pretend through defiance and will that I was, but God is in control of it all.
I’ve learned to let go of possessiveness in relationship. I don’t want my wife, who is quite young, to make the rest of her life a monument to our time together. I want her heart to go on from the point where I leave this life, hurt for sure but healing, and hoping. I don’t want to see her lonely.
And may be most important, I’ve learned to let go of my preconceptions about God. I wanted to believe that I was favoured in that things went ‘right’ for me; the breaks fell my way.
And then it was me that broke.
I saw that favour was not the good job or the research contact or the book deal. Favour was being led by the hand by the Almighty, into a place where I could accept, without resentment, the hand that is dealt me, and embrace, without anger, the further pain that will surely be mine before this life is done.
By not looking back in resentment or forward in sullen dread…only along this road can I fully love in the now.
And as I love, so am I Loved, and so, further…I’m terminal and loving every minute.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser is the author of two novels, “Blessed Are the
Pure Of Heart” and “Emerald Isle“, and three short e-books. Formerly a
security contractor and teacher, he lives on a remote mesa in New
Mexico with his wife and a number of rescued dogs and cats.
I am very grateful to Andrew for his willingness to share such hard-won wisdom and perspective with us. Live in peace, brother: in this life and the life to come. Readers, if you’d like to respond to Andrew – leave him a comment below or reach out to him via his blog. He is house-bound but our words can reach his living room, and our prayers can reach on high.
29 thoughts on “Terminal and Loving Every Minute”
Bronwyn, I’m just so honoured to be here. Thank you!
What humbling and eye-opening words. Thank you for sharing your heart. Thank you for being intentional in your experience and passing along the wisdom you’ve gained. You have already changed my paradigm and my actions.
Jo, thank you so much for your kind and grace-filled words. I’m so glad that you found resonance in what I have written. Blessings!
Andrew, thank you for this hard-won wisdom. It confirms what the Lord has been impressing on me lately, that my happiness and worth are not determined by, or connected to my productivity or popularity–or anything external. You have expressed it so well.
Helen, thank you for this, and you’re so right. Happiness has to come from the reflection and acceptance of the Lord’s love for us, within our hearts.
This is wonderful! So honest and from the heart! I would love to share it with the girls in my Bible Study, if that’s OK! Thank you for using your energy to share this with us!
I’m so honoured that you’d like to share this with your Bible study group…please do, by all means.
What a blessing to read this. You are teaching us all through your example. As you share about choosing wonder and delight in suffering, you challenge me to see the wonder and delight in my day. Thank you for helping me to keep it all in perspective.
Rachel, thank you so much! I truly and deeply hope that you do see the wonder and delight in every day with which the Lord graces you.
Hi Bronwyn,
I just commented on Andrew’s blog, but I wanted to thank you also for having him share his thoughts and words with your readers. I really needed to read this…I was so encouraged.
As I shared on Andrew’s blog, my favorite part was what he said about what favor means:
“I saw that favour was not the good job or the research contact or the book deal. Favour was being led by the hand by the Almighty, into a place where I could accept, without resentment, the hand that is dealt me, and embrace, without anger, the further pain that will surely be mine before this life is done.”
I just found out a few days ago that my aunt has stage 4 lung cancer. We are quite close, so I was terribly shocked. But as I pray and seek deeper understanding, I see how God’s hand and kindness is in it all. She is my only aunt (among her many siblings) that is saved. I do not have to fear for her eternity. Already, her circumstances are allowing hearts to be more open and receptive.
As I told Andrew, I will be sharing his words with her to encourage her. I will reminder her of God’s promises…and I will tell her what true favour really means.
Thank you so much!
Jennifer, I will be answering you directly on my blog, but I wanted to say here that I am deeply grateful for your words, and that you and your aunt will be in my prayers.
What a beautiful and poignant testimony of Andrew’s love for God and his wife. Andrew, your faith is amazing. I’m too awed for words.
Blessings of His continued grace ~ Wendy
Wendy, I am so grateful for your comment…you’ve truly blessed me today.
I am profoundly grateful for what you’ve shared of your life and dying. We’ll carry it with us. You’ve reminded us all that we must entrust everything to God. He hasn’t let you down this far. And he won’t.
Marlena, thank you so very much, and you are so right…He won’t let us down. Not ever.
Andrew is a pretty amazing fellow.
Susan, I stand on the shoulders of giants – my wife, and the Five Minute Friday community.
“Moments can’t be hoarded for later use, and they’re not intended for replanting in the hope that they will raise some of some future harvest.”
Profound, my friend. Profound.
Marie, thank you so much (and please pardon my delay in replying). I really appreciate your stopping by to read this.
There is a lot of truth — life changing truth — to be mined in your words, Andrew.
Beth, I’;m so honoured by what you’ve said! Thank you for this.
Oh Andrew… how you continually teach us truth! This: “How can I complain about a small thing like dying?” What a gift this constant bigger picture perspective is… and to live Present and in the moment… this is the call for all of us! Thank you for reminding us of this! We love you, brother!
Karrilee, I’m so grateful for your lovely, grace-filled words…and I do feel that love, as it carries my heart when I’m too tired and hurt to move.
So glad to read your words here, Andrew. I was particularly taken by what you said about our life moments being like manna — that they can’t be stored up and saved until later. And about the process of letting-go. This is wisdom we can all benefit from. I’m grateful to you for sharing.
Jeannie, I’m truly glad that my words created a resonance for you…thank you so much for being here, and for commenting!
(And please pardon my delay in replying.)
Thanks so much for sharing, Andrew! Although I regularly read Bronwyn’s blog, I hadn’t yet read this post, but one of my high school small group girls shared this in a group text. Your words are impacting so many.
Corrie, please forgive my delay in replying; there were some pretty rough days here. I’m so glad you found this essay through your small group, and so honoured that you read it, and found some meaning here.
Thank you so much!
Andrew, you are truly an inspiration! You’ve reminded me to enjoy all the moments God gives me, no matter the circumstances. God Bless and Keep you O:)
Veronica, you truly dome great honour…thank you so much, and please excuse my tardiness in replying. I’m very grateful for your kind words…blessings back! 🙂
Comments are closed.