1 John 2:15-17
Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
A couple of decades ago, I had this idea to write a book about “heroic” women in my community. I wanted to write the book while these women were still living and I could personally interview them…and I never got around to doing this. I may still write the book someday, but here’s the thing…none of these women were world famous. I doubt a single one of them was anywhere near millionaire status. Yet they left their mark – on my life, the community at large, and as Christian disciples.
Here was my “short list” of heroes…
Geraldine Monroe McCurry…a wife and mother who devoted her entire life to her husband and three girls, one of whom was wheelchair bound with Cerebral Palsy. Geraldine and her family normalized a “special needs” child in the 1950s and 60s…when most children like her daughter, Mary, were institutionalized.
Charlsie Baldridge Little…an educator and mother of two whose husband died tragically on December 7, 1941 – while fighting a fire at our local theater. The wall collapsed, and Milton Little fell with it and was killed. Mrs. Charlsie reared her two sons while teaching and serving as an elementary (and maybe junior high) school principal. She also authored a book about the history of our community’s First Baptist Church. Charlsie Little was brilliant and remarkable on many levels.
Olive Biggs Baldridge…an amazing military wife who worked tirelessly in her community as an assistant to her husband (who was a local optometrist) - and also in her church and our county’s Democratic Party. Olive was a force to be reckoned with – and a woman ahead of her time!
Peggy Mahon Logan…”Mrs. Peggy” was the queen of caring. Her life of service was borne out of personal experiences with neglect. As a divorcee, she cared for her dying mother-in-law, and no one from the church came to visit this woman. Mrs. Peggy vowed that would never happen again on her “watch,” and she made it her mission – and life’s work – to visit the sick and shut-ins and ensure that anyone in need knew that someone cared.
Willie “Polly” Chandler…my paternal grandmother, whose life was filled with a vast array of experiences , both challenging and incredible. My grandmother drove a school bus in the 1960s – and made dentures on her kitchen stove for the dentist she served as a chairside assistant...all while helping my grandfather manage a small farm, sewing clothes for us and making beautiful hand-stitched quilts. My Mam-ma Polly could do it all…and she pretty well did!
There are other ladies I would add to this book…Miss Ollie Fae Jackson and Mrs. Cora Mae Barnett, to name a couple. But I will tie this together by saying that the one thing that all of these ladies have in common is their relationship with the Father. Their Christian faith was/is at the core of every single thing about them. Of all of the lessons I learned from each one…how to love and serve Jesus was the greatest and most important.
Not a single one of these ladies wanted their own way, everything for themselves, or to appear to be important. They simply lived humble lives that honored their commitment to God – and blessed a LOT of people in the process. And I want to be like them.
I may never get the book written, but I will do all I can to honor these “heroes” and serve God as they did. Their examples give me hope and courage…and when I emulate their penchant for service and discipleship, I know I am closer to God. My prayer is that you know – or have known – people who model this level of Christian faith and humility…and that you are making every effort to imitate them. Want what God wants…not the world…and see what amazing things this produces!
©2017 Debbie Robus
Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
A couple of decades ago, I had this idea to write a book about “heroic” women in my community. I wanted to write the book while these women were still living and I could personally interview them…and I never got around to doing this. I may still write the book someday, but here’s the thing…none of these women were world famous. I doubt a single one of them was anywhere near millionaire status. Yet they left their mark – on my life, the community at large, and as Christian disciples.
Here was my “short list” of heroes…
Geraldine Monroe McCurry…a wife and mother who devoted her entire life to her husband and three girls, one of whom was wheelchair bound with Cerebral Palsy. Geraldine and her family normalized a “special needs” child in the 1950s and 60s…when most children like her daughter, Mary, were institutionalized.
Charlsie Baldridge Little…an educator and mother of two whose husband died tragically on December 7, 1941 – while fighting a fire at our local theater. The wall collapsed, and Milton Little fell with it and was killed. Mrs. Charlsie reared her two sons while teaching and serving as an elementary (and maybe junior high) school principal. She also authored a book about the history of our community’s First Baptist Church. Charlsie Little was brilliant and remarkable on many levels.
Olive Biggs Baldridge…an amazing military wife who worked tirelessly in her community as an assistant to her husband (who was a local optometrist) - and also in her church and our county’s Democratic Party. Olive was a force to be reckoned with – and a woman ahead of her time!
Peggy Mahon Logan…”Mrs. Peggy” was the queen of caring. Her life of service was borne out of personal experiences with neglect. As a divorcee, she cared for her dying mother-in-law, and no one from the church came to visit this woman. Mrs. Peggy vowed that would never happen again on her “watch,” and she made it her mission – and life’s work – to visit the sick and shut-ins and ensure that anyone in need knew that someone cared.
Willie “Polly” Chandler…my paternal grandmother, whose life was filled with a vast array of experiences , both challenging and incredible. My grandmother drove a school bus in the 1960s – and made dentures on her kitchen stove for the dentist she served as a chairside assistant...all while helping my grandfather manage a small farm, sewing clothes for us and making beautiful hand-stitched quilts. My Mam-ma Polly could do it all…and she pretty well did!
There are other ladies I would add to this book…Miss Ollie Fae Jackson and Mrs. Cora Mae Barnett, to name a couple. But I will tie this together by saying that the one thing that all of these ladies have in common is their relationship with the Father. Their Christian faith was/is at the core of every single thing about them. Of all of the lessons I learned from each one…how to love and serve Jesus was the greatest and most important.
Not a single one of these ladies wanted their own way, everything for themselves, or to appear to be important. They simply lived humble lives that honored their commitment to God – and blessed a LOT of people in the process. And I want to be like them.
I may never get the book written, but I will do all I can to honor these “heroes” and serve God as they did. Their examples give me hope and courage…and when I emulate their penchant for service and discipleship, I know I am closer to God. My prayer is that you know – or have known – people who model this level of Christian faith and humility…and that you are making every effort to imitate them. Want what God wants…not the world…and see what amazing things this produces!
©2017 Debbie Robus
No comments:
Post a Comment