“I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in
you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and I am
persuaded is in you also.” (II Timothy
1:5)
Mother’s
Day is almost here, bringing thoughts of my mother and grandmother. I asked the ladies in the Sunday School class
I am teaching to think of their mothers (or aunts or grandmothers or any other
lady who was important in their lives).
What characteristics stood out to them?
Was there a Scripture that came to mind?
I asked them to be prepared to share on Mother’s Day. Naturally I got a head start. I found that two characteristics of my mother
and grandmother entwined. I could not
separate them since they both taught me the same things. The first was a love for God and the Word of
God and the second was a love for people and their eternal souls.
II Timothy 1:5 says Timothy’s mother and grandmother
shared their faith, and mine did too. By
the way, I found it amusing that my grandmother was Lloys Cooke Rice and my mother was Mary Lloys Rice Himes, almost Lois. They nearly shared Timothy’s grandmother’s
name.
The first thing they gave me was a love for God and His
word. Grandmother is the one who taught
me to use a Strong’s Concordance, to
tie Scriptures together to understand the meaning. She made it an adventure. I learned from her that Scripture is the best
commentary on Scripture. She also
stressed memorization. When she was in
her 90s she was excited about memorizing the 150th Psalm.
Mother, too, loved the Word of God. She memorized long passages and taught me the
wisdom of not just memorizing individual verses, but whole chapters. She used Scripture in training us, as
well. I especially remember her saying,
“Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor’s house lest he weary of thee and so hate
thee.” Obviously, we did not frequent
our neighbors’ houses. She taught me
that Scripture was practical and applicable.
The second thing they shared was a love for people and a
passion for loving them to Jesus. When I
worked in a secular workplace for the first time, a factory, Gram said, “People
need to know first that Jesus loves them and that you love them because Jesus
loves them.” She practiced that and
loved many to Jesus. When my
grandparents moved to Murfreesboro and she didn’t have a washer or dryer, she
took their clothes to a little laundromat across from the projects. She called that little laundromat her
parish. She talked to everyone she could
who came into the laundromat and visited many of those apartments. There will be many in heaven because she
loved those people. She had a winsome
smile as she asked nearly everyone she met, “Do you know Jesus?”
Mother also loved people.
She could talk to anyone (and I envied that and tried to cultivate that
ability.). In our day we often don’t
even know our neighbors’ names, but she reached out to all of her
neighbors. I can still see her going to
the kitchen for a saucer for an ashtray for the neighbor she had invited for
coffee. That woman was more important
than a smoke-free house. She thought she
was supposed to talk to everyone she met about Jesus. In my senior year of high school I had been
witnessing to a fellow student named Rowena.
I knew that if I invited her home, I could have a better chance of
really talking to her and maybe leading her to Jesus. But Mother got to her first. When I “complained” that I had wanted to do
that, Mother said, “I thought you brought her home so I could lead her to the
Lord.” Maybe I subconsciously did. I knew Mother would not let her get away.
II Timothy 3:14 and 15 says, “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been
assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood
you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” I want to be known for my love for God and
His word and want to love people to Jesus.
I have a long way to go if I am to measure up to my mother and
grandmother, but I want to continue in what I have learned.
Faith Himes Lamb
No comments:
Post a Comment