My mom would never approve of me standing up here today. Not because she wasn’t proud of me, her daughters were her greatest accomplishment and joy. But because she was the most humble person I have ever known. She lived her life for others. She lived her life to honor her Savior. She served Him by serving His people. She prioritized her life as He has called us to. First God, then family, then others. She loved the Lord her God with all her heart, soul, strength and mind and exemplified that by loving others even more than she loved herself.
My dad, sister and I were the first beneficiaries of this extravagant love. My mom introduced me to Jesus when I was 7 years old as she illustrated the Gospel story on a piece of drawing paper one night after church activities. I have shared the very same illustration with my own children when they began asking theological questions. She had a way of making such profound truths understandable for even the youngest inquisitive mind. My mom was the preschool director at my church growing up. I have vivid memories of watching TV in her work room while she faithfully did lesson preparation. There was no Lifeway back then. She created all her own curriculum. She once modeled a lesson on creation out of a crystal light container long before Pinterest. I recently helped with Vacation Bible School at our church and the smell of the lamination machine took me right back to the hours she spent preparing to teach little ones about Jesus.
She brought creativity, excitement and loving care into aspects of family life as well. It wasn’t until I became a mother myself that I realized that breakfast for dinner is what you serve when you’re short on time and ideas. My mom made it feel special and exciting, with strawberry topping and a little whipped cream. She made ME feel special by loving me with extravagant grace. She wanted nothing less for her grandbabies and always encouraged us to offer them grace and unconditional love while pointing them to Jesus. I recently realized my mom lost her own mother when she was just about my age. She and her young mom friends learned to parent as they went along. My mom drove carpool, checked homework, and she and her friends did multilevel marketing long before it was cool as they sold Discovery Toys and Pampered Chef from their living rooms so they could have the privilege of staying home with their children. She sewed and smocked beautiful dresses for us that she saved in hopes that she’d have a granddaughter to pass them on to. It brought her so much joy to see her handiwork on my daughter. She was one of the most creative minds I have ever known!
Her teaching career was one of her greatest legacies only overshadowed by her witness for Jesus and her care for her family.
Some of my earliest memories of my mom revolve around her role as teacher. She balanced career and family with such grace. She was an educator by nature and she found ways to weave that into her family life by teaching at the church preschool when we attended there and only returned to the classroom once we were school aged. She made sure her schedule was our schedule and she’d be home when we were. She taught at Carrolton Christian Academy when we attended there before my father’s work re located him to the Houston area where she completed her years in the classroom at Fort Bend Baptist Academy. She was the Head of the English department at both institutions and made literature come to life for students and staff alike. Over the last few days, I've had the privilege of hearing countless stories of how she impacted others in her role as a teacher. I’ve read beautiful tributes from ex students who no doubt struggled, like I do, with the autocorrect function on their computer. (as an english teacher, mom simply would not have tolerated poor grammar) Students and staff remember hearing the soft hum of her scooter as she collected supplies or attended faculty meetings. She even had a student who “borrowed” a grocery cart for her so she could use it to transport her supplies around the school. My mom decorated it for every season, leaves in the fall, and jingle bells at Christmas. She accepted her limitations in mobility with strength and grace. She impacted the custodial staff at FBBA immensely and I know many of you are here today to show your respects. Thank you for loving and supporting my mom so she could continue teaching. You got there early to help her get in the building with all of her teaching materials and put your work on hold in the afternoons to make certain she safely made it to her car. Your support ensured her teaching career did not end too abruptly when her body could not keep up with her mind.
Since my mom left us last Sunday, I have wondered a thousand different times how I am going to go on without her. The answer came from a place I didn't expect - When visiting my dad in the first days after my mother's death - My two year old son excitedly ran into their house and into the room where my mother use to stay.....- he ran for the door calling out “Gran”, and opened it- only to find she was no longer there. He quietly climbed up into her bed where he had often sat with her for hours coloring. He picked up a crayon and began to color again. So how will I continue on without my mother? I will continue doing what I have always done. I will comfort my children during sleepless nights. I will pack lunches, run carpool, attend parent teacher conferences. In this way - in the most menial and mundane - but somehow still the most meaningful aspects of everyday life, I will continue her legacy of love with every person I encounter. I will prioritize my life as she taught me so well - I will love the lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength and with all my mind and I will strive to love others much more than I love myself. That's how she lived, and that's how she would want us to live, too. so I will continue on until the day we meet again in Heaven and I will do everything in my power to make sure she is able to welcome each of her grandchildren to His Throne to join her in singing praises to our King.
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