How I miss my dear Mother today! It doesn’t seem possible that her Homecoming was over 6 years ago…. I’ve thought a lot about her during the past few weeks and have often wondered what she thinks about our family these days. I’ve also thought so much about how different life would have been had she not gone to heaven when she did….. But, as the cross stitch on my refrigerator says, “This too shall pass”. And even the brightest and best days and the dearest and best people…pass from our lives. We are left with a huge void. But, thank God, He promises to fill that void with His Spirit.
Today, though, I wish to remember Mother and the ways she has influenced her children and grandchildren by her example of character, consistency, courage, comedy, and commitment to her family.
We live in an age of hurried frenzy. People seem to always be on the move, so busy with doing that many fail to “be”. God Himself told us to be still and know that He is God. Mother did just that, not just because she was in pain so many of her latter years, but because she had committed to the priorities of truly knowing God and loving her family early in her life.
She was a born student of God’s Word. And she taught us that His Word is practical and is to be lived. And Mother truly lived what she taught….at home as consistently as in public. Her name was never the focal point of her actions. Instead it was His Name of which her word and life spoke. Mom had little tolerance for “religion” (or “churchianity” as she would have called it.) A life lived for Jesus was what was important, not merely “looking good” for the members of a church or community. She knew that serving her family took time....and lots of it. Therefore, she knew how to say NO…even to church activities….. when “going” was in conflict with her living God’s love for her family. What others thought or said of her simply wasn't important to her....what God and her family thought was.....
And Mother was courageous and strong. I’ve seen her eyes literally filled with pain, and yet she would rarely complain. She had a servant spirit to the end…..
I remember well the HOME Mom created for us. Making a haven of peace and calm and cleanliness was so much more important to her than a flurry of activity. She was usually found in the kitchen when Tim and I would get home for school….and she made sure all else stopped when Dad got home. “Supper” was first on the agenda for the evening. She truly loved her "man"!
Mother was a born comedienne. She would keep family reunions in stitches as she recalled antics of her siblings and herself while growing up. She never took herself so seriously as to not be willing to poke fun at herself…..but she never made fun of others nor gossiped about them. Hers was a safe, gentle humor…. One never had reason to fear that he/she would be the brunt of a joke, or cruel teasing, or sarcasm. And Mother would never be crude or rude in her laughter.
Mom truly knew the difference between being a “good person” and being “alive in Christ”….and she always opted for the latter. Mother’s Christianity was consistent. The way she was in public was the same as she was in private. She truly lived her faith. She was a wife and mother, first and foremost. A wise counselor once said to me that, when all is said and done, we will be remembered, most probably, by only a sentence or two. It is our family, mostly our children and grandchildren, who pass on these few sentences.
I think it interesting that Mother is remembered by her children and grandchildren by the sentence, ”She loved us unconditionally.” I don’t think there could be a higher tribute to a woman of Faith. We all knew that she would always be in our corner, always act in our behalf, always be loyal to us, always speak of us in the best possible light, always cherish her time with us, always put her wants and needs as subservient to ours, and always cover us with her prayers. What greater legacy could a parent leave the coming generations?!
So, on this sixth anniversary of your going Home, dear Mom, “Thank you…for a life well lived!”
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