A WOMAN WHO FEARS THE LORD

By Jasper Rains

(As the lights come up we see Lois sitting with a cardboard box in front of her)

Lois: I was just sitting here looking through this box full of things I found in the attic of my parent’s house. We’ve been cleaning and clearing out things all day. That’s the hard part when someone you love dies. You still have to go back and move around so many things that stir up memories.

(Lois reaches in and pulls out a cooking pan)

I know this just looks like a worn out pan to you but it is full of memories for me. Even as I hold this in my hands I am taken back to my childhood. Mama would always be up before any of us cooking breakfast and making sure we were ready to get off to school. I can remember sitting at the table with Daddy, my sister Jane and my little brother Carl eating together. Mama was always on the move. No sooner would she sit down than one of us would need more milk or wanted another pancake. Mama would always be the one to get up and get the requested item. I don’t think she had a warm breakfast for herself for twenty years running. This pan also reminds me of one of the things Mama taught me about motherhood. It is laying your own desires by the sidelines and caring for everyone else’s. I don’t remember telling her thank you when I was a child. She still provided. I look back on her attitude and how giving she was and I hope that my children will be able to speak the same about me someday. Though I may not have understood it then now I see that everything she did, was sprinkled with unconditional love. She never expected anything in return.

(Lois puts the pan back in the box and retrieves a quilt)

Mama loved to sew. I remember this quilt. On cold snowy mornings we would wait with eager anticipation to hear if school had been cancelled. When the good news came all three of us kids would run into Mama and Daddy’s room and snuggle in under the quilt. We would spend the first hour of those mornings talking and giggling. Mama would hold me in her arms and play with my hair. I would run my fingers along the stitching on this quilt. I never appreciated then the work that went into making these. I guess there is a message in this old quilt too. That message is the most wonderful gift a woman can give is something she has invested time in. I don’t necessarily mean a quilt for a friend or a dress for a daughter but as this quilt reminds me, there is nothing more special than being together with the ones you love and appreciating each other. On those cold mornings Mama could have told us to go back to bed and hid underneath this quilt. Instead, she brought us under it and showed us so much love and acceptance. She invested time in me.

(Lois puts the quilt back in the box and pulls out a framed picture)

Mama and Daddy’s wedding picture. It is hard to believe that they were ever this young. Daddy is so handsome in his suit and Mama is glowing with joy. She loved Daddy so much. I learned a lot about being a wife from her. She supported Daddy no matter what. I don’t ever remember her speaking badly about him. Now that I ‘m married I’m certain that there were days that she was frustrated with him. Maybe he left his socks on the floor or made a decision she didn’t agree with or any of the many things men do to frustrate us. Still she was always right beside him and never spoke ill of him to his children. They loved each other so much. Everyday Mama prayed for Daddy. On my wedding day she told me that praying for him was a full-time job and that I should lift Charles up to the Lord everyday. She said it would help him to be a better man and would help me to respect him as God’s chosen leader of our home. She was right.

(She returns the picture back to the box and pulls out a very worn Bible)

Mama taught me many things but the thing I am most thankful for is the night when I was eight years old when she knelt with me beside her bed and led me to Jesus. She used this Bible to show me how much more God loved me than even she did. She helped me ask Jesus to become the Lord of my life. Then she took the rest of her life to show me what that meant.

(Lois pulls out a newspaper clipping and sits it on top of the Bible)

Why do people keep obituaries? They say so little about the person. Here are some details about her life. She was a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, a friend. It is all so ordinary. There is no room to say that Mama was a beautiful woman who led her children to a faith in Christ, worked hard to maintain a household, loved crossword puzzles, loved to cook and sew and would give her last piece of bread to anyone who needed it. There is no time to say that she proved her strength everyday especially when her husband was dying and she never left his side for eight months of a battle with cancer. There isn’t room to say that this woman gave herself fully to her Lord and loved her family and friends no matter how they may hurt her from time to time. There is no room to say that her absence will leave a void in all our lives that no one will fill.

(Lois pauses for a moment as she wipes away a tear. She returns the newspaper back to the box and opens the Bible. She delicately touches the pages)

The Bible says, “charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” A woman who fears the Lord. That‘s what Mama was. That’s what Mama taught me to aspire to be. As I look back inside this box of the earthly things Mama collected, I realize that she stored her treasure in heaven. (pause, thoughtfully) Heaven. I ‘m glad she’s there. I can’t wait to see her again and thank her face to face for warm breakfasts, snuggles under quilts on cold mornings, and showing me how to gain the gift of eternal life. A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Mama would say all the praise just goes back to her Savior. So I guess what I want to say --- what I need to express is this: praise you Jesus for a mother who loved you and showed me that love too.

(Lois replaces the Bible in the box, picks it up and exits with it in her arms)