A Mothers Knee

Dear People Who Keep Company With God,

A notable theologian of the late 1900’s wrote, “The theological seminary is good: A Christian mother’s knee is still better.” It is believed that God visited Solomon in a dream and gave Him a blank check because his father AND mother prepared him to make the right choices (Prov. 31:1). The influence of a father and mother on a child cannot be emphasized enough.

My mama went home on Oct. 14, nine days shy of her 93^rdbirthday. Mama was a simple woman and lived a simple life. She loved children, flowers and plants and was at her happiest when she could occupy herself with the care of them. She dropped out of school in the 6^th grade to help care for her siblings. She never had a driver’s license or a full time job outside the home. Yet in her simplicity she greatly influenced the course of my life.

When I was a little boy every afternoon she would sit next to the window where the sun was coming in and read the newspaper. One day I asked her if I should turn the lights on. She said, “No, we need to use God’s light, it is much better.” That struck a chord in my heart that I have never forgotten. It was the first time I ever seriously considered God in my heart.

There was the time when we took a walk in the woods near our home. A summer rain caught us a good ways from the house. I thought we should take off running, but mama said, “Let’s just walk and enjoy God’s blessings.” I can feel the rain falling on me now. We were soaked to the bone when we got home. When I feel consumed by the frantic pace and cares of this life I remind myself of that walk in the rain.

Mama was the type of person you did not want to cross. One time I upset her really bad and she grabbed a switch she kept on top of the refrigerator for such occasions. I decided I would make a run for it and took off out the back door as hard as I could. In my elementary school years I was always one of the fastest kids so surely I could out run my mama.

I was running toward one of our barns where I could hide out until she cooled off, but one of my shoes slipped off and I stopped momentarily to get it back on. To my shock there was mama about 10 yards behind me with fire in her eyes and the switch held high in her hand. I never ran from facing the consequences of my actions again. I found out that day that there is such a thing as the righteous fear of the Lord.

Mama is the best example of Jehovah sneaky that I have ever known. She came from a long line of Holy Spirit preachers and revivalist dating back to the First Great Awakening. But it was in simple ways that she passed the fire down to her family. All of her children and grandchildren are believers in Christ; both of her sons are pastors, one grandson is a missionary and one is being trained for the pastoral ministry and we all have callings from the Lord. The fire burns on.

My mama is an example that there is not a person on the face of the earth whose life does not count. Even the simplest person can have an impact that is far reaching.

Many Blessings, BW