Stacey’s Surprising Gift
I’d invite you to exercise care if you decide to watch this powerful three-minute TED Talk by Stacey Kramer. Don’t worry, it’s not graphic, or manipulative, or violent. Not at all. But it is very, very challenging and you may not agree with Stacey’s conclusion and conviction. And that’s all right. But it’s something to be prepared for. Indeed, I suspect that if you or a loved one has experienced what Stacey has experienced, you will likely react powerfully to her Talk, whether positively or negatively. Keep in mind, this is one person’s experience. And it is valid. And if you disagree, or have had a different experience, that’s valid, too. I won’t say more, as it’s clear that part of Stacey’s rhetorical strategy and hope is to build a certain level of suspense as she describes how she has found something good and beautiful in a place she’d never imagined. Again, her experience doesn’t have to be yours. I’m not sure it would be mine. And I’ve had good friends who approached similar situations very differently and with just as much integrity. And perhaps that’s the key: in situations of distress – whether physical, emotional, spiritual, vocational or existential – we are honest about our reactions, own them as valid, and share them with integrity.
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Yeah, I have that “Yes, but…” quality to it as I watch. Whereas one side of me gets irked by the almost-but-not-quite “God won’t give you what you cannot handle”, “God has a plan” part of it, the other side of me says, “This truly can be a gift, a cleansing of the chaff of unnecessary things in my life to remind me of what really is important.” I would hope I never experience this in my life, but if I should, I hope I could find the empty tomb on the other side of the cross, to somehow boast in my suffering, so that I can rediscover the hope in Christ that does not disappoint.
My sister has found that same gift, but the real price is the worry that it will return again. Anything that makes us stop and see the love in the world around us is a gift. But as she said, there is a lot of cost involved… monetarily and emotionally.
Finding healing from the effects of traumatic experiences through EMDR has brought me a similar gift. I am not grateful for the experiences, but I am sooooo grateful to have come from living in anxiety 100% of the time (and unaware of it) to a life of peace and calm and self-love almost (really!) 100% of the time!!
My mother, sister and sisters in-law all died from brain cancer. Much good came along the way, but the price was very high.
Thank you David, blessings.
Our young dearly loved gifted son died from a brain tumor many years ago and ever since we have questioned and looked for some
“gift”, answers to the why, etc. in this most heart-breaking loss. Instead, there was a shift in the”balance” of our family, a bereft now “only” child, even though we soldiered on as family of faith and enjoyed additional 2 grandkids. We had much support from our church, friends and a support group—but just wanted to say there is life-long “fall out” for loved ones.
However, a thank-you and God’s blessings to Stacey in her recovery and positive attitude.
My mother died from colon cancer, my father from AIDS, I had Hodgkins Lymphoma. Life (and therefore all the things Stacey described) does come with a price. And I believe the resurrection of Jesus Christ which changes what the price of life (death) means. The meaning is changed uniquely for each of us. I say things like eternal life, joy, but definition is elusive. Clearer is what resurrection faith moves me to do: love and be loved and so risk the pain of the price.
As a cancer survivor, I can identify. None of us can know how we will react until we’re faced with the situation. I can see it as a gift and I would add compassion to the list. I am definitely a better person than I was before my diagnosis.
The talk is average. There are so many gifts that we do not wish others would have. When we truly believe God will help, by “Job!” says it all.
I am a cancer survivor. The cancer I had claims the lives of 2/3 of the women diagnosed. I have asked repeatedly, “Who am I that I survived while others have not and their families have experienced the trauma of grief and the burden of sorrow?” And I have no answer. I look at everyday as a GIFT that I make use of by my choices. Choices of how I speak, how I act, what I decide. We all experience sorrow, grief, burdens in life, and we can learn from them, grow from them, and be shaped by them. We wish we didn’t have to experience them or learn in this fashion, but that is life here on earth. In each and every experience, however, God is with us in Christ Jesus, God incarnate, who entered our human reality that we might know His divine reality. God is our refuge and strength. Jesus Christ our hope and peace, light and life.