A buffet is always a balancing act. The dinner plate you receive is usually 9 inches in diameter yet the selection of meats, salads, cheeses, soups, fruits, and decadent desserts rivals that of an Elizabethan feast. What to do?

You wait in line and add a succulent serving here, a warm and juicy entree’ there- and then it happens. You add one last culinary treasure and the slide begins. Your chicken is headed south toward your beans and the delectable dessert is hovering oh so precariously on the edge of your plate.

I think journeying through a breast cancer diagnosis is a little like a buffet.  You gratefully accept your plate marking the end of official treatment and then you begin to add on your selections. A regimen of Tamoxifen or another hormone therapy is your entrée. You add a serving of blood work every 3 to 6 months.  Next, add just a pinch of waiting for the results of said blood work. Sidled up next to the waiting is an appointment every 6 months with the oncologist who I will forever refer to as the “Queen Bee.” On the other side of your plate is the annual chest x-ray.  The plate looks rather full but you must save room for a generous heaping of Hope.

Then, the inevitable happens.  That nagging ache or that unusual sense of tiredness creeps in. You try to make room for it on your plate. You wait about a week to see if these new additions are still demanding a spot on your plate.  If so, you manage to squeeze a telephone call in to the “Queen Bee” for an appointment to check out the serving of  nagging ache or unusual sense of tiredness. Oops- you look closer and that generous heaping of Hope is starting to slip. And then it begins to slide off of your plate.  You quickly grab a fork, arrive at said doctor’s appointment, and wait for the “Queen Bee” to proclaim all is well. Her proclamation is delivered and you gingerly push the heaping of Hope back on to your plate.

I wonder if we should change the way we serve the Hope. Maybe instead of adding it to the side we should pour it generously on top of our selections- a gravy for our spirit.

“Now Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” -Hebrews 11:1