Yesterday I sat with a friend who is dying from cancer.  Every time I visit with her,  she always knows who I am and gives me a great smile.  As I watch her body deteriorate, I notice that she constantly has praise for God on her lips.  She counts everything that is done for her as a blessing.  I watched as many friends and family try to make her as comfortable as possible.  We are all trying to make her last moments with us precious.  My friend loved to cook and bake.  As we stood around her bedside she starting saying to us "Everyone needs something to do!"  She began calling out a recipe for making a cake.  She told us to write down the ingredients and then she gave each one of us a part in the process.  I was to do the mixing and keep up with the time.  As time was going by she asked  me had it been in the oven long enough and was it ready.   I began to comfort her and tell her it was not ready yet.  My friend was always a worker for the Lord.  She was always busy helping others.  It was she who came to sit with me when I had my first child so that my husband could attend church.  She often was found visiting and sitting with the sick.  She loved to bake whole wheat rolls.  (I could never get mine to taste like hers.)  As I sat in the room with her,  I began to think of how brief and fragile life is.  Things that I thought was important didn't matter anymore.  We came into this world with nothing and nothing will we take from this world.  Only the way we lived will be important.  Only the way we loved Jesus and others will matter.