Wednesday, November 3, 2021
One of my earliest memories of the lady who would become my mother-in-law was of her being such a gracious hostess to my large family when they had to stay overnight at the Lucas home on their way to the wedding of my brother in Arizona. The sheer number of my family did not deter her, as she figured out where to keep everyone, whether at her home or at her daughter Esther's home where I was staying for the summer. Nearly every evening that summer, my mother-in-law-to-be, Mama, allowed me to join the family for supper and the evening so that I could have more time with her son Jonathan before our wedding. My last memory of Mama was the evening she and Daddy came out to our home for supper. This time, things had turned around, and it was me having my mother-in-law for supper! We'd been trying to have them out or take supper in to them a little more often as we watched Mama becoming more and more frail, and her arthritic hands less able to chop vegetables. She seemed extra tired that night and more anxious than usual to go home. She needed help to get down the few front steps off our porch, and to me, it was always a privilege to help her, for she so seldom needed help. She was the person who was always helping others. But that night, as we had many times in the last couple years, Jonathan and I helped her out, her taking my arm, and Jonathan shining the flashlight on our gravel drive so she would not stumble. Grandma was anxious to go home. She grabbed the van door to help herself inside, always the strong little lady who hated to need help, and after bidding her goodnight, I closed the door behind her. And I wondered. I wondered how many more times I may or may not get to close the van door for her. She had been in so much pain with her knees coming down our few porch steps. She had been so tired. She had been so frail. And God saw that, too. I think He just couldn't bear to let the little lady who had lived her life to serve others now suffer any longer in a body that would need others to always be helping her. And He saw how anxious she was to go home, and He said, "It's time now to come Home--Home to where you always wanted to go when it was time to go."
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