A quote from an Orphan’s Tale from Jay Neugeboren states that, “a wife who loses a husband is called a widow. A husband who loses a wife is called a widower. A child who loses his parents is called an orphan. There is no word for a parent who loses a child. That’s how awful the loss is.” Only a parent who survives the death of a child can fathom the intensity of such a loss. Every parent is unique and even two parents who suffer the death of their child will react to it differently. No one will know exactly how one will feel. However, those who have experienced such a tragedy can find some hope in the stories of other parents who have unfortunately had the same experience.
In May 2008 life dramatically changed forever for Christian music artist, Steven Curtis Chapman, his wife, Mary Beth, and their family. It had been a “normal” Springtime day like many other days with their younger kids playing outside, but suddenly the air was filled with a different sound besides kids playing and laughing. Mary Beth heard one of the kids yelling and screaming as she ran to the house to meet her mother explaining that the older brother, Will had hit Maria with his car,” as he was coming home and pulling into the driveway not seeing his sister playing outside. Mary Beth explains in her book Choosing To See that she ran outside to see her son holding his little sister. She explained a horrific site. “I saw Will near the garage holding his sister in his arms. There was a lot of blood on both of them” (as she heard him crying for his sister to) “wake up.” Sadly, Maria did not wake up. Mary Beth shared that some time later that the spot in the driveway has become known as the place Maria ran into the arms of Jesus.
The Chapman family will never be the same, yet they are trying to bring some hope to others through their loss. “The idea had come from 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Praise be to God…the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”
From the beginning of humanity there was the sadness of parent’s suffering the loss of a child. Adam and Eve’s son Cain killed his brother. King David, a man after God’s own heart, had an infant child to die. In the Old Testament book of Job we can read that he lost all of his children when a storm came upon the house of his son where all his children were staying and they all died. Even though they experienced such great losses in their lives they were able to still trust in God and live the rest of their lives fulfilling their purpose.
It is told that Jesus has experienced each temptation and feeling every human has had yet without sin. In writing this it made me wonder if this was part of the plan in saving humanity through the death of Christ, then God the Father Himself now too knows the sorrow of losing a child.
~TRS
Originally written for The Wayne Weekly November 2021
Rays of Hope 