SUCCESS OR FAILURE that is the question! 3/2/09

This week we are going to look at different situations of life. We are going to see how God can use each of us in different ways and bring us to the place of success through our failures without our even realizing it.
IT’S A GREAT LIFE IF YOU DON’T WEAKEN!
As you have notice in my memories of my Mother, she was a no nonsense woman. She had more good qualities then bad and she ruled both with an iron fist. I have to imagine that many mothers of old were governors or mayors of their own households because those women had many, many babies. Depending on how much authority the fathers took determines which position those mothers held. Mine was the "Ruler" of the Kingdom! Throughout my young life, my mother had many sayings. I think some she had heard but some were her own! A questionnaire was handed out in a Sunday school class many years ago called "Which are found in the Bible? True or False! #1 on the list was "Pretty is as pretty does". I was surprised to see that on the list, because my mother always said that.

When I didn’t want to do something and I needed a truthful reason for not doing it I would ask my Mom. Her pat answers were always; "What do you think"? Or "Do you think you should"? Each time I got that answer whether I wanted to do it or not, I didn’t do it. Mainly because I wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know what I thought or if she really didn’t want me to do it. As she grew older she began to use the phrase; "It’s a great life if you don’t weaken". I didn’t realize until years later that a commentator on TV would use that phrase off and on. It was my mothers favorite! It became a joke among the family and we would tease each other with "It’s a great life if you don’t weaken"! I have a sign above my bedroom door that my niece gave me. I believe she has given others in the family the same sign. What a remembrance and motto!

My mothers life was not easy. She married when she was 16 and had her first baby a year later. Her 14th baby was born when she was 40, not to mention numerous miscarriages. My sister Jean said jokingly, that they never knew when Mom was pregnant because she always looked like that. My father drank, and in my teens died from Sclerosis of the liver. My mothers life was not easy until her older children became self supporting. Lisle, the eldest, bought her a house on 4th Avenue in Council Bluffs, Iowa in the 40's for $350.00. After moving to California, her #4th child, Lonnie supported her financially the rest of her life. However, through the years she was a working Mom. As a seamstress, working in garment factories, she helped support her family until Lonnie suggested it was time to retire.

There is much to be said about motherhood, but oh so much more to say about my Mother. I think when she said; "It’s a great life if you don’t weaken" it was rightfully hers to say. She never did weaken! She was strong raising her children! She was strong when they moved away; she was strong when some died so prematurely in life; she was strong when she developed Alzheimer’s. When her mind was no longer able to comprehend she still was strong. The preacher was talking about how God loves us. My Mom sitting in the pew beside me, said; "And He LOVES me"! I cried!

God has asked for our love and obedience! In Genesis 1:28 it says; "God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." I think my mother took this up a notch because she was fruitful and filled the earth the best she could. As the ruler, she subdue all that she commanded. As God rests and sits back to survey the world he created, I know He is pleased with Momma! I believe He welcomed her home with a cushy chair next to a fire place and said to her; "Sit here! Put your feet up and rest! You are home"! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/26/08