Category Archives: Thankfulness

Taking the Lead

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Last week I enjoyed writing about my mom, thankful for the upright heritage she left behind. Judging by worldly standards, Mom died an old lady of 92 who never worked outside her home or accomplished anything of note. Strangers might have said, “Hers was a wasted life.”

 Fun-loving MomBut those of us who knew her, know otherwise. Before Mom died, we used to joke she’d have a big funeral, and we were right. The crowds came in droves, filling the large room where her body lay, spilling out into the halls and out the front door. The funeral director came running just before the service began with alarm on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me!” he said.

What he meant was, “Why didn’t you tell me this woman was popular? We don’t usually see this for old ladies like her!”

As we greeted guests, Mary and I noticed how most were from the generations behind Mom, people our age and younger. These were the “children” she’d loved and influenced throughout her life, loving all of them as her own. Rather than wasting her life, she’d used it for lofty purposes, leaving footprints that led them all to Jesus.

Here’s an important question for each of us still marching along on this side of our funerals: “Where will my footprints lead?”

FootprintsSteve Green’s song “Find Us Faithful” says,

“As those who’ve gone before us,
Let us leave to those behind us
 The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives.”

God gives us a simple but effective way to leave footprints others will find it worthwhile to follow: just track the steps of Jesus.

IMom and Linnin Mom’s last year of life, she continually had her nose in a Bible. One day I asked if she’d looked at the biography of Julia Child I’d just given her, or her new book about hymn authors. She said, “Honey, I don’t have any time for those. I’m studying for my finals.”

Despite not owning a trophy case or being written up in periodicals, Mom finished well.

“After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we’ve left behind,
 May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover
 Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find.” (Steve Green)

“God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21)

Marking Time

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My October calendar looks like party-central: eight birthdays, two anniversaries, one birth (yesterday’s blog), two bon voyage parties, and one doggie birthday.

???????????????????????????????A special birthday this past weekend belonged to little Emerald as she turned two. She’s at that wonderful age of discovery (including that fire is hot!), and is half baby and half runaround-kid. Most delightful to witness is her language development and her gradual improvement in conversing with the adults in her life.

Never mind that we don’t understand most of what she says. Her voice inflection is just like ours, and eventually we’ll figure out what she’s talking about!

Emerald isn’t the only one making significant progress. It’s been a long two years for Birgitta as a single mom, since she’s trying to do full time college, part time jobs, and full time mothering.

When I think of her diligence in managing her many commitments, I’m reminded of the Scripture verse in Isaiah that tells us the best way to accomplish things is “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little.” (28:10) That’s the way Birgitta is getting it all done, by making wise use of every hour of every day.

During Emerald’s party we reminisced about one year ago on her first birthday and also two years back on her day of birth. Of course she’s made dramatic leaps in her development between those milestones as all babies do, but pausing to think about them was a healthy exercise for all of us older party guests.

???????????????????????????????Life happens one year at a time but more importantly, one minute at a time. The sooner we become conscious of that and then of using our minutes wisely, the better off we’ll be. Not that we shouldn’t relax or party with some of those minutes, but the scriptural principle is that we’re to number our days… and hours.

I’ve learned a great deal by observing Emerald, but even more by watching her mommy. If we set wise goals and inch toward them day by day (line on line), then after a year has passed, significant progress will have been made.

One of my personal goals for the coming days is to pay closer attention to my conversations with Emerald. Maybe that way I’ll eventually figure out what in the world we’re talking about.

First thing in the morning, [a good woman] dresses for work, rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started. She senses the worth of her work, and is in no hurry to call it quits for the day. (Proverbs 31:15,18 – The Message)

Oh Mama!

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Because so many of you blog-readers love stories about my mom, here’s a bit of info. As you read between the lines, you’ll see how she came to be the colorful person she was.

Mom at age 3Mom was born at home in 1912, arriving just before Christmas. Because she was a month premature, she wasn’t healthy, so the doctor told her parents not to name her. That way when she died, he said, they wouldn’t be too attached. And so she remained “Baby” through December and into 1913. By St. Patrick’s Day her father, a full-blooded Irishman, nicknamed her “Pat” after the holiday and called her that the rest of his years.

Eventually they named her Evelyn Pauline after an older brother, Everett Paul, who had died at the age of 8 in a school yard accident.

Mom at 18Growing up during the Depression, she learned to pinch a penny with expertise and made sure we could, too. She married a shy, 42 year old Swede when she was 28. Unable to wait until he popped the question, she proposed to him instead.

When asked what she wanted as a housewarming gift, she said, “Toys for children who might visit us.” Before she had any of her own kids, she made friends with all the neighborhood children, and even while in labor with her first baby, she delayed leaving for the hospital to pass out homemade cookies up and down the block.

Mom's wedding dayAfter having two little girls born 20 months apart, Mom was expecting a third when she began hemorrhaging and was rushed to the hospital. After being given the wrong blood type from an inaccurately labeled bottle, she nearly died. But God had other plans for Evelyn Pauline Pat James Johnson.

Although doctors cautioned Mom not to become pregnant again, our brother Tom came along on Dad’s 50th birthday, a definite bonus to all of us. To this day I think Mom tricked Dad, since she’d wanted nothing more than a houseful of children. Eventually she got her wish with 17 grandchildren, all living local and all in love with their grandma.

Mom plus her 3Mom viewed children as marvels to be cherished, protected and admired. She never encountered a child she didn’t approve of and although her influence rubbed off on them, her greatest joy came when theirs rubbed off on her.

She also loved music and practiced piano daily. In her teens she taught lessons, in her thirties played the four-keyboard organ for Moody Church, and in her prime accompanied enough weddings and funerals to put us through college, though she always gave the money back to the bride instead.

Mom at the Moody organMom memorized entire books of the bible, taught high school Sunday school for decades, and conducted in-home Bible studies throughout her married life. But she also loved a good practical joke and made frequent use of her whoopee cushion, plastic vomit, and artificial dog poop. No wonder kids loved her.

Dad used to say Mom was a risk-taker. Tomorrow I’ll prove it.

“A cheerful heart is good medicine.” (Proverbs 17:22)