The Brevity of Life

Very timely is this post in light of last night's cardiac arrest of Buffalo Bill's player Damar Hamlin.

This guest post is by Alexa Macumber, Regent Law 3L and current Wills, Trusts, and Estates student:

Emily McLean, 26 years old, peacefully passed on October 22, 2022, after a ten-month battle with glioblastoma. Although I spent limited time with Emily personally, she was loved by all who knew her and will be remembered as a pure, radiant light, able to bring undeniable brightness to an aching world. Above all else, Emily was a follower of Jesus Christ, the source of her light. That light was only magnified in the face of cancer. 

After receiving her prognosis, Emily began generously sharing her story on CaringBridge and social media, simultaneously proclaiming God’s goodness and writing with searing honesty about the difficulty of her journey. She knew that God could handle her every raw, painful emotion. And she knew that He would ultimately heal her, either on this side of heaven or the next. In May, four months after her diagnosis, Emily wrote a poem. It’s a lament, a cry of grief, but lifted by Hope. 

She entitled it: The Brevity of Life

I used to never think of it,
The brevity of life
Now I’m trying not to sink in it,
The brevity of life

It often keeps me up at night,
I wonder if it’s worth the fight
I cannot always see the light
The brevity of life

I loosely hold all of my dreams
My hopes accompanied by screams
My grief is bursting at the seams
The brevity of life

I know my God hears every cry
And doesn’t scoff when I ask why
He reminds me of the butterfly
The brevity of life

I’m breathing deep and letting go
Of thinking I’ve a right to know
How all this pain will help me grow
The brevity of life

What I believe is all I own
I’m fully loved and fully known
I’ll reap the seeds which I have sown
The brevity of life

I try to cherish every day
When there is nothing left to say
I fight to stand in beauty’s way
The brevity of life

I take my time to smell the flowers
Soak in the sounds of springtime showers
Revel in all my given hours
The brevity of life

And when my days on earth are through
And there’s nothing here for me to do
I’ll venture into something new
The eternity of life

My heart will finally be made whole,
Fully nourished in my soul,
At last I’ll reach my final goal,
The eternity of life

I’ll rest in goodness and perfect peace
My pain will fade and tears will cease
The chains that bind me will release
The eternity of life

I’ll know God better than ever before
This distance I will feel no more
I’ll see all that he had in store
The eternity of life

I’ll be all I was meant to be
Like Eden just before that tree,
And only beauty will I see
In the eternity of life.

While the world will forever be dimmer without Emily in it, her light lives on in the countless lives she touched. We take comfort in knowing she is dancing and singing once more in the throne room of the Almighty.