My Beloved Memaw

All America lies at the end of the wilderness road, and our past is not a dead past, but still lives in us. Our forefathers had civilization inside themselves, the wild outside. We live in the civilization they created, but within us the wilderness still lingers. What they dreamed, we live and what they lived, we dream – T.K. Whipple, Study out the Land

One week ago today, my sweet Memaw passed away. It has been a tradition on my blog to share my thoughts of family who pass through The Boy’s life. I was unable to really talk about it at first but by Friday, I was finding reasons for peace. We held a funeral service at her church on Friday, amidst The Snowpocalypse.

She lived to be 89 years old, obituary link here. I have shared some notes and added some commentary that I used to speak about her life at the service. . (follows) I also read Psalm 103, which is alluded to in my thoughts to a degree

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My sister and I have talked a lot about the lessons we learned from our grandmother, our Memaw. It’s been difficult to pinpoint any one special and separate event that really stood out. Because the truth is that when the lessons are so deeply ingrained, you sometimes can’t even see what they are. What we will always remember and attempt to carry forward is love, generosity, patience and faith.

Love because Memaw loved us with an unequal measure that we could never repay or even understand, we could only learn from and remember to pour out such unconditional love to our children and grandchildren.

Generosity because we have received gifts of monetary value that were substantial and were overwhelming to receive. And yes, I refer to our much travailed 1984 Ford LTD, the car she handed down to us at age 16, which neither of us really liked or wanted. We dubbed it “The Memaw-mobile” and as a matter of  fact from an immature 16 year old perspective, you might even say we hated that car. Now looking back, it was possibly the best car ever made and is altogether irreplaceable. But also, we received gifts whose value is harder to pinpoint but that have a value beyond measure. There is a quilt, and I can’t reveal its exact location because if I do, there is a possibility that my sister may try to steal it from me, that Memaw made that is full of holes and to most people would look like disheveled rags, but is easily both of our favorite quilts.

Faith because much of everything that we did with Memaw centered around God and church. In fact, I became very interested in her church around the age of 17 because I found out that her church had girls that went there. But also because her life centered around belief in God and salvation through Jesus Christ and she took every opportunity to share that with us. She chose “I’ll Fly Away” to be sung at her service. I observed that it was written in 1932 and I smile when I think about a young teenage Memaw in a church somewhere singing that song when it was new. And I got a laugh from the audience commenting that I’m sure everyone disliked that “new” music back then.

And finally, patience. Or more appropriately called in the King James version of your Bible, longsuffering. This word describes our Memaw in a much more effective way. She was patient indeed but she was also longsuffering. We have detailed today the trials she endured but as I spoke to my sister this week she talked about Memaw’s gardening and green thumb and how it really stands out that she was patient and able to work on a constant basis with plants that needed a little more caring. Her unwillingness to give up and continually cultivate the gardens she tended to is a lesson that we could all use in our daily lives and our daily walk with God. Continual cultivation and strong will is the key.

We’re thankful for the life of sacrifices and longsuffering that brought us to where we are today. Sacrifices and longsuffering made by Memaw and our grandfather as well, and your forefathers too. Let us not ever forget all the love, generosity, patience, and most of all faith that got every one of us to where we sit today in this beautiful church building. Let us remember those lessons as we continue to build on their work and remain hopeful that we can leave everything in a little better condition than they left it to us. Let us give thanks in everything to the Lord, for he is good and his love endures forever. Praise the Lord for people like Memaw.