+ Rest in peace ...

The world lost a giant today.
She gained her fame not by authoring a book or achieving great feats.
She achieved her fame by her integrity, courage, and honesty.
She did not choose a life lived in public, but she lived it there nonetheless.
She did not choose the limelight, but when it caught her up she stayed true to herself.
Elizabeth Edwards died as she lived:
True to her God, her family, her self.
She never wavered in fulfilling her destiny
and when faced with the cruel truth
of spousal betrayal and the uncertainty of a diagnosis of cancer
she went on, putting one foot forward and then the next,
marking out the path that was hers alone, the path that belonged to no other.
Her journey was hers, but it was not unfamiliar to many.
Yet a person made public, she continued to live the privacy of her life,
opening the door to the story of her self when she wanted and how she wanted.
Today the flickering flame of her candle extinguished
as she passed from this world into the next.
Now the third chapter of her life begins
in a place where she is whole and free.
The imprint of her life well-lived
will linger long
upon all of us who were drawn to her
and inspired by her.

The world lost a giant today.
Her example is more than we can capture in words,
more than we can chronicle in a text.

Rest in peace, Elizabeth.
May the choirs of angels sing you awake
in the glory of a God who loves you
unconditionally and faithfully.