One of the faithful ones

She was one of the last of her family and friends to get married, she was one of the first to lose a baby at birth, and then one of the first to become a widow, when her husband passed away after a long and debilitating illness, during the Great Depression.  As the mother of a five year old daughter, she was diagnosed at age 36 with rheumatoid arthritis and told by physicians that she would spend her life in a wheelchair.  I don't know how that conversation proceeded, but knowing her full resolve, she most likely told the doctor, "Not going to happen."  And it never did.

When there was no money, which was pretty much a daily occurrence, she was one of the most creative people on the planet.  As a single working mom, she did not offer condolences to her only daughter when college seemed laughably out of the question, but simply looked her in the eyes and said, "How can we make this happen?"  And they did.

She taught piano lessons to put food on the table.  For her students, she printed on the top of her lesson sheets, "It is not what you play, but how you play it."  That was the story of her life.

She left her home in Fort Worth, Texas, at 62, for a foreign country called New York City to be close to her married daughter, now a professional violinist, not to be cared for, but to care for them.   

When she entered a room, she brought ripples of joy into it.

I know, because for the first sixteen years of my life, she lived with our family.  We called her Mammy.  For many years, I didn't even know she had another name.  She was my grandmother and one of the most godly, loving, kind, and self-less women I have ever known.  Even now, I remember her vividly.  She would have been 131 years old today, and she passed from this life to the next, exactly fifty years ago on this day.

What did she love doing?  Whatever needed doing, not seeking happiness in what she did, but finding the LORD walking with her in how she did it.  Nothing but nothing was beneath her.

She hobbled a lot because of her rheumatism, and she leaned on God, even when circumstances were beyond explanation.  "Sometimes you just have to trust the LORD about it," she told me as a little girl, over and over, repeating it as if to say, if you remember anything, remember this. 

She was incredibly busy from before sun-up until long after evening set in.  As a child, it didn't appear that she ever slept. Sewing, cooking, painting, playing piano, loving four unruly grandkids, and listening.  She was always there, and always ready to put down what she was doing to listen.  Friends of ours and other young people flocked to her, because she loved them.  Not one had to ask if she was a believer.  She loved a lot of people to Jesus.  I am one of them.

The faithful ones do not grab the mike, nor command the spotlight, rarely found front and center on stage or a photograph, because they are just busy being faithful.  Even as a child, I often pondered about her life.  She was not famous or rich, nothing remarkable about her talents or appearance.  But she had a secret joy.  She knew exactly what she was doing.

I am convinced she knew that the decisions she had made, and every choice she was making, impacted not just her life, but her grandkids...and the children to the furthest generation. 

We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD,
                      and His might,
and the wonders which He has wrought.
...to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
         the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
  so that they should
                    set their hope in God.

                            Psalm 78. 4, 6-7


When I think about faithfulness to God, I think about her.  What does that look like?  What does that look like in my own life?

And Jesus said,
Love the LORD your God
with all your heart
and with all your soul
         and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment. 
And the second is like it:
      Love your neighbor as yourself.

                           Matthew 22. 37-39

Love God every way you can,
                  in whatever you do.
Love everyone around you
           as you have been loved by Him.

I watched that unfold daily in her life.
For that, she is remembered.
She was not well-known,
         but she was found in Him.
And I am grateful to God
             for her life.

Happy birthday, Mammy.