Kim Kuo tells of the 10-year-long battle her late husband, David, had with terminal cancer. David was the former deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Much of his time was spent in pain from the vicious side effects of surgeries, radiation, and medications. But, instead of considering the alternative of euthanasia or becoming passive, he chose to focus his remaining time to spiritually touch the lives of people.

Especially in suffering, we can dive below the shallow waters and touch another’s heart and soul. Steve Jobs, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2011, shared this wisdom at a commencement speech at Stanford University: ‘No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent.’