Thoughts on the Life of the Late Elizabeth Edwards

Thoughts on the Life of the Late Elizabeth Edwards

As she neared the setting sun on the day of her life, the late Elizabeth Edwards left many messages of hope to her children and extended family, specifically, and the citizens of our nation, generally.  Earnestly, she desired another eight years so that she could attend her youngest son’s high school graduation.  In her moving words stated with great rhetorical flourish, “I want to lead my children to the door of the next chapter of their lives.”  Although she would not receive those eight years, she did not cease to live fully each day.  She opened a furniture store, wrote a second book, gave interviews and speeches of hope and inspiration, bought a smaller house to which she intended to move her family next spring and prepared her children for life without her physical presence.  Moreover, she oversaw the renovations of the house and specifically sought to ensure that her twelve- year-old daughter and ten-year-old son would be most comfortable in their new home.  Mrs. Edwards wanted her children to enjoy the most rewarding childhood despite the ravages of cancer imposing its dastardly emotions and ominous clouds upon the canvass of their lives.  In an interview a few months prior to her death, she revealed that she was writing a letter to her children on how to live.  We learn that its contents spanned such daily and existential details as properly corking a head of cabbage to picking the right church to choosing a mate.  When asked about the most important lesson that she thought her children should learn, she responded “Anyone can handle good times.  It is easy to do so.  But, how do you handle the bad times?  I want them to know how to get through tough times.”  Despite her body being ravaged with pain and learning eventually that modern medical treatments are insufficient to cure her disease; Mrs. Edwards found purpose and hope.  Ironically, as she neared death, she taught many lessons on how to have hope and find meaning in daily life.

Elizabeth Edwards, in speaking about her faith and the great loss of her late son, Wade, said that she hoped to have a faith that enables her to see her son again.  Her statement is the layperson’s humble request for the fulfillment of scripture’s promises of resurrection.  I consider her desire as the ultimate fulfillment of an Ephesians 3:20 faith.  We believe that Almighty God will accomplish the unimaginable in our lives by granting us the promise of resurrection, reunion and eternal life.  Can you imagine the indescribable eternal reality of transliteration into a non-corporeal eternal body which transcends unconditionally all human limitations?  What about seeing all members of that “great cloud of witnesses” who preceded us to eternity?  How about moving into an eternal mansion built to your unique specifications and preferences?  Can you imagine seeing the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as He is? 

Further, I find hope in Elizabeth Edwards whose very personal and difficult struggle with cancer became a prism of encouragement and empowerment for fellows sufferers and their families.  Still, I marvel at her willingness to commit to a presidential campaign in 2007 upon learning that her period of remission had ended and her cancer had returned.  What an incredible act of humility!  Unaware of the concurrent infidelities of her husband of thirty years, she subordinated her physical pain and emotional adversity to his political ambition.  I surmise her stalwart love both motivated and empowered her to make such a monumental choice.  At a press conference announcing the decision, she stated “We have always been people who find the silver lining in everything.” 

Love, as defined in 1 Corinthians 13, enables you to be grateful and find positive, affirming aspects in every challenge.  Nevertheless, she exemplified selflessness and sacrifice as she wholeheartedly supported her husband and the father of their children.  In addition, she lived her understanding of forgiveness for her husband after his scandalous affair inclusive of the birth of a child was exposed to the nation.  I greatly appreciated her willingness to be honest and hard about her feelings of betrayal.  She avoided any clichés and sentimentality.  She found the grace to give Christmas gifts to her husband’s daughter.  Yet, she did not allow her husband to accompany her to her cancer treatments.  “I am not able to allow him to have that level of closeness.”  More amazingly, she refused to denigrate her former husband and the father of her children in their eyes.  In fact, she left clear instructions that he would rear them upon her death.  She did not attempt to deprive him of full custody.  Lest I gloss over what must have been an incredible source of pain, she undoubtedly remained angry and disappointed to the very end.  However, she did not seem to extract revenge.  She accepted the fact that “my husband became someone other than the man whom I married.”  Yet, she chose to focus upon the attributes of his character that she still respected.  Summarily, she lived her forgiveness of him despite her choice of other words.  Interestingly, her life teaches genuine and enduring love is the foundational basis of forgiveness.