As many of you know, Jono’s grandmother--our Memaw--passed away Monday, February 8. It is a great loss to many. I still catch myself wondering who I’m going to call when spring gets here and I need to know what to plant where. And she was truly my girls’ best friend. Anyway, the day after she got to go to Heaven, I wrote this. It was read at her funeral and I thought I’d share it here as well…
I was reading my bible this morning…just the passages assigned to today according to my “Read The Bible In A Year” schedule. It was Matthew 25, and I immediately realized that Memaw fell into a very select and favored group of people…also known as sheep. Here are Jesus’ own words and how our Memaw embodied every one of them:
Jesus starts off in Matthew 25:31-34 saying “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”
Verse 35 says ”For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat”. Everyone knows that if you were hungry, Memaw would give you something to eat. Every Sunday she would prepare a feast for her family, which she wrote in her journal was her favorite family gatherings. It didn’t take long for others to stop inviting us out to eat after church because EVERYONE knew Memaw had dibs on our Sunday afternoons, and she had since Jonathan and I had started dating…11 years of divine meals. If we just dropped by, the first thing she would say was, “Do ya’ll want me to fix you something to eat?” When friends or family were sick or had had a baby, she would cook and deliver a meal. And even in death she wanted to make sure her family remained well-fed. She left an account for the sole purpose of buying food on Sundays so that we would all still get together. Only Memaw. If you were hungry, Memaw was your woman.
Verse 35 goes on to say, “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink”. If Memaw knew that we were coming by, she would have cups of apple juice and chocolate milk ready and waiting for my girls. For them to walk into Memaw’s house and not have drinks waiting for them was tragic. It only happened a couple of times, and Memaw would apologize to them like she’d committed the ultimate sin. I also remember one hot, summer day when my sister, my sister-in-law, and I brought all 9 of our kids to Memaw’s house to do a photo-shoot in her yard. Memaw started making lemonade and bringing pitcher after pitcher out to us with cups of ice. Hardly anyone left her house without getting a glass of sweet tea, kool-aid, or a coke that she kept in ample supply.
Verse 35 finishes up saying that “I was a stranger and you invited me in.” I wish that I could say that my neighbors felt as welcome into my home as Memaw’s did to hers. Any given day (or night for that matter) a neighbor from across the street or down the road may drop by to say hey, sit and talk, or borrow something from her. Numerous times Jonathan and I would bring a student from the youth group or a friend of the girls’ with us to eat at Memaw’s. She wasn’t the kind that would say yes and then grumble about them seeing her house a wreck or worrying if she had enough food…she just said yes. Friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends of all her kids and grandkids were always welcome.
Verse 36 says “I needed clothes and you clothed me.” Memaw loved buying clothes for her babies. They were usually either overalls or extremely floral. My girls loved it when they would be at her house and need a change of clothes. There was something exciting to them about going to Memaw’s special drawer where she kept extra shirts, pants, socks, and undies. She made the most beautiful dresses for both of my girls to be dedicated in, and made 3 years worth of Halloween costumes for them. If someone had a hole in their pants or needed something hemmed, there was no one but Memaw for such a task. There will be jeans going in the garbage far too early now that we don’t have Memaw to patch us up.
Verse 36 goes on to say that “I was sick and you looked after me”. I’m pretty sure that I speak for everyone in her family when I say that if you were sick, you wanted Memaw around. I remember her coming to visit me one day when I had a stomach virus. She brought a case of ginger ale, cleaned out the garbage can that I had just “utilized”, fixed me some chicken noodle soup, and proceeded to dress and play with my kids and clean my house. She would always want to babysit my girls when they were sick because “They just need their Memaw” she would say. She had friends that she faithfully drove to doctor’s appointments. She did her share of looking after sick people.
And lastly in verse 36 Jesus says, “I was in prison and you came to visit me.” In the rare case that one of her loved ones did happen to come upon hard times and find themselves in jail, Memaw was diligent to visit them on every opportunity. And when others might think that it was a waste of money, she would even send funds to them so that they could buy snacks and drinks. Time that most people would rather spend on themselves, Memaw was always ready and willing to spend on others.
Memaw would have claimed not to have much…she wasn’t rich, she didn’t think she was pretty, she was not a musician, and she was beyond uncomfortable in front of a crowd. It sounds a lot like me, only I often find myself complaining to God for not “blessing” me with some amazing gift. I’ve realized that in all the ways that I feel ungifted and “not special”, Memaw felt as well. But there is no one who I desire to be more like than her. It’s ironic, really, that everything that I’ve loathed about myself (like just not being really good at anything) existed in my favorite person. So now instead of thinking of all the good that I could do if God had just made me a little better at teaching or a good singer, I’ll thank Him for giving me a beautiful picture of what a true sheep of His looks like and I will strive to feed, give drinks to, invite in, clothe, look after, and visit my loved ones, friends, neighbors, fellow church members, and even complete strangers. Just like my Memaw did.
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