Mike’s Musings …
Her Smile is Memorable!
She was only eight years old when we met her in the summer of 1978; just five young years older than our oldest son. She had a younger brother, and before long, a baby sister. Her parents are still numbered among our dearest friends and the wonderful memories are seemingly innumerable. She appeared shy around us older folks, but with her peers, she excelled as a leader. She proved this when she achieved Salutatorian of her graduating class of 1988. Like her mother, she had a “knack” for caring for sick folks and pursued a nursing career. She married and had two girls, to which she devoted her time and attention without regret. Though she had been taught the gospel of Christ from her youth up, it was just a few years ago that she rejoicingly informed me, “I obeyed the gospel!” Her delight in doing so was as evident as that ever-present wide smile!
Kimberly (Young) Poorman passed away this past Monday night after a valiant fight with a rare cancer. I talked with Kim just a couple of weeks ago. She was a patient in the hospital at the time we talked but she had her computer at hand and was working! She was most concerned about her parents whose physical health required her dad to be admitted to a nursing home and her mother to receive tests for heart problems. “I’m fine and I’m going to be fine regardless of what happens to me,” she cheerfully proclaimed. By the eye of faith, I could see her bright smile, and I heard her unshakable confidence! As it happens, the day of her funeral would have been her 53rd birthday. I can well imagine her smile as if to say, “I told you I’d be fine!”
I muse on the statement, “No parent should have to bury their child.” But the reality is they do at times (Hebrews 9:27). Difficult to be sure, perhaps the assurance of a child dying in the Lord makes that departure more palatable. Indeed, of all the smiles life’s experiences placed on Kimberly’s face, that smile of knowing she had obeyed the gospel and determined to live her life for Him is the exhibition of the greatest of all pleasures! I muse on how so many others need to find the source of such a bright smile: even on the faces of those of us who obeyed the gospel years ago and continue to live it as faithfully as we know how. Indeed, this is a generous portion of knowing the meaning of “Blessed are those that die in the Lord.” (Revelation 14:13).