How do you deal with a broken heart?

All of us at some time in our lives have been on the mountaintop of hope, and all of us have also been in the valley of despair. In a Carnegie Class I taught in Roanoke Rapids a few years ago, Joe Evans began his remarks by saying, "If I live to be a hundred years or more, I know I will never, ever meet anyone with the courage of my little 10-year-old son."

Joe then told how his son had suffered from an incurable illness and how, during his last days on this earth, the pain he bore was almost unbearable; the medication he was receiving to ease the pain was having little or no effect. "But", said Joe, "my little boy never complained. In fact, he asked his mother and me to try not to cry because it would further upset his little six-year-old sister, who was already grieving over the certainty of losing her big brother." Then, with tears streaming down his face, Joe told about what happened the night his son died.

He said it was 3 o'clock in the morning and he and his wife were seated on a couch in the corner of their son's hospital room when they heard him call out, "Mommy, Daddy!" Joe said they immediately rushed to his bedside as he held out his frail hands, and said, just before he died, "Mommy and Daddy, thank you for loving me, and try no to cry. We'll meet again in Heaven."

As I listened to Joe's presentation, I thought about the obvious wonderful example of LIVING that those parents had instilled in their son, to have him display such courage and compassion in his final days on this earth. So, how do we deal with a broken heart? Marc and Angel Chernoff, in their "Practical Tips for Living" described heartbreak as a dull, subdued sensation, like the muffled sound of a distant gunshot that comes with the paralyzing discomfort of realizing that someone whom we loved more than life itself has been taken from us.

Deep heartbreak is like standing in a forest of darkness where we can't see any light that can lead us home. But if we wait for the sun to rise again, and listen when others assure us that they themselves have stood in that same dark place but have since moved forward with their lives, we can reflect on the words of that beautiful old hymn, "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone."

Now to close with some humor: A distraught senior citizen phoned her doctor's office. "Is it true," she wanted to know, "that the medication you prescribed for me has to be taken for the rest of my life?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so," the doctor told her.

There was a moment of silence before the lady replied, "I'm wondering, then, just how serious my condition is, because this prescription is marked 'NO REFILLS'."