Episode #26: 2 Christopher - Chapter 5 - Widow

Jan,15 2026

<-#25: 2 Christopher - Chapter 4 - Work

On grief, calling, and words spoken too widely

5:1

Not long after,

I was invited to visit the widow

of the man who wrote the first book.

5:2

Her home was modest,

kept with care but without display.

5:3

She greeted me warmly

and said,

"You are the one who writes now."

5:4

I answered,

"I am trying."

5:5

She smiled and said,

"My husband tried too."

5:6

I asked her

whether the book had brought her fame.

5:7

She laughed quietly and said,

"Fame is a poor comfort

for an empty table."

5:8

She said,

"I refused it when it came,

because it asked me to become something else."

5:9

I asked,

"And what did you choose instead?"

5:10

She answered,

"The two greatest gifts God gives."

5:11

I said,

"What are they?"

5:12

She replied,

"Life,

and children."

5:13

She spoke then of her grief,

not as a wound,

but as a teacher.

5:14

She said,

"When my husband died,

I could have turned inward."

5:15

"But I was given mouths to feed,

hands to guide,

and questions to answer."

5:16

She said,

"I chose to teach,

not from authority,

but from presence."

5:17

"I live as I believe

he wished me to live:

with joy,

without complication,

and without bitterness."

5:18

She said,

"I submit not to his memory,

but to the soul I loved."

5:19

"And in doing so,

I remain free."

5:20

I wrote her words carefully,

and read more into them

than she had placed there.

5:21

She spoke long that afternoon,

sometimes circling the same thought,

sometimes contradicting herself.

5:22

And I realized

that I was not hearing doctrine,

but grief learning to breathe.

5:23

And I understood

that wisdom spoken from pain

must be received with care.

<-#25: 2 Christopher - Chapter 4 - Work