She told me she used to sit on the swing and sing about Jesus when she was 4 years old.
I can just see her swinging and singing about Jesus at the top of her little lungs. Later, sitting on the porch swing watching a thunderstorm, singing about Jesus at the top of her full-grown woman lungs. These were some of her favorite things.
She sure did love to sing.
If we drove anywhere with her we sang. We sang in the car. We sang on the church bus. We sang on every trip. She always started a song, and we would sing along.
She sang in church. And she wasn’t shy about it.
I don’t think she was shy about anything.
One thing’s for sure, she was bold. Not much scared her. You might say she had a lot of nerve.
People always knew what she was thinking. She made sure of it. She had strong opinions, and she wasn’t afraid to voice them.
Nobody wanted to cross her. Not even her kids. Her disapproval was palpable. You could feel it. I tried really hard to stay in agreement with her. It wasn’t worth it to express disagreement.
But she was the first to volunteer if somebody needed help with something. She loved to be in the middle of a project with lots of people working together. Better yet, she liked to be in charge of said project. She knew how to get a thing done.
If someone needed a ride somewhere, she would take them. If someone needed prayer, she prayed for them.
She prayed for you like she was praying for herself. She loved to pray. She was known as a prayer warrior.
She prayed as boldly as she sang and spoke and led.
Even when times were the hardest she sat on the swing and sang to Jesus. And she prayed. If she knew you, she prayed for you. If you were related to her, she prayed for you even harder. Boldness also marked the way she prayed. When she prayed, you knew God was listening.
That woman was my mother.
And now she’s singing and praying from the best vantage point. She’s singing with the angels. And I bet she’s loving it.
Mom, I can’t wait to come and sing harmony with you. You taught me to sing. You taught a lot of us how to harmonize.
I bet you will teach me to sing some heavenly harmonies when I get there.
Until then, I will do my best to carry on your legacy.
And teach your grandchildren and great grandchildren about Jesus. And how to sing.
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into its soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other's hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller
