One life about to end, one life about to begin

Life is full of contrast. A good friend of us, in fact our maid of honor was diagnosed with liver cancer. She is an OMF missionary to Taiwan. She used to work with university students and recently has been working as an AIDS patient support worker. She came back to Canada to be with family and friends for the last stage of her journey on earth. Today she is in a coma. I am not sure how much time she has left. She is closer to El than myself, nevertheless I feel her passing with agony. It is not the questions of why? I don't ask this kind of Qs. It is how you measure a life that bothers me. El is very good at asking this kind of questions. Today she asked,"when we sang God has a plan for us in worship today does that mean we he only has plans for the young? Does he not also have plans for the old and dying?" I have no words to speak to this question. Do we measure life with potential to success or do we measure life as God values them, like He values everyone of them as they are. We are a community of faith not a community of commodity. The same day, I read the letter from Ann Foo about her soon to be born baby. We are all excited about this new "potential to be great" being. This new "hope" is a life to be born. I am not diminishing this excitement. I just feel we should celebrate with equal enthusiasm about the life to be end because that too is personification of "hope" and "greatness". (I felt tears coming,,,)