Shadowing Death

There was a girl that sat next to the hospital bed of the woman with cancer. She stared at the woman watching for a while, until the she finally asked the girl, "What are you thinking?" "Nothing really. It's just that suddenly I know all these people who have died or are dying. It seems like everyone around me is dying, and I don't know how to handle it." the girl answered. The woman thought quietly for a moment and then asked the girl another question. "What do you think the verse in Psalm 23 that says 'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil' means?" "Well I think it means that when you're dying you don't have to be afraid because you know what's coming." "That's what I thought for a long time too." said the woman. "But now that I'm dying I realize the truth is that I'm facing death; you're the one shadowing it. I think the verse is saying I can be unafraid because I know where I'm going and what's coming, and you can be unafraid even though you don't know what's coming. With all your friends and family that are leaving you, you are shadowing death, but you don't have to be afraid and can lean on the Lord who is holding a rod and a staff of comfort, and will always be with you."