Sixteen years ago today, I received the phone call that I knew was going to come. The voice on the other end said my Mom had just passed away. Like it was yesterday, I remember it well. I got on my knees in prayer, and accepted the Lord's will. She had succumbed to pneumonia which was brought on by her being bedridden with cancer at the age of 64 years, 7 months, and 7 days. I have heard that time heals, but I have found that to be a lie. There have been times I would like to pick up the phone and call her to talk for a while. "Hi Mom, this is Steven. How are you and Dad? What's going on with you and everyone else?....I love you Mom, Bye." How nice it would be to drive down to Florida to see her for a few days, and talk about family things with her. Also, I remember all those home cooked meals over the years. "Hey Mom, what are you going to fix for supper?" Fried chicken, peas and butter beans, collard or turnip greens, fresh corn, fried okra, fresh tomatoes, corn pone, ice tea, banana pudding, and those biscuits from scratch, WOW what a cook! "Do you want to go visit grandma and grandpa?" (Her parents) Those were some good times. A time of family get togethers, fish frys at the bay near the Gulf, swimming in a crystal clear creek on a hot summer afternoon, and a lot of other activities. Before moving to Florida while we were kids growing up in South Dakota, we would come home from school for lunch to soup and sandwiches. On Saturday she would give us 50 cents for the movies, popcorn, a coke, and a candy bar. Or if I didn't want to go to the movies, I'd go to the Hamburger Inn where they were just 10 cents each. I would buy one at a time till the money ran out. We would take a vacation to Florida every year to visit her family, our grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts. Before the days of the interstate hwy it took about 23 hours. She saw to it we had treats along the way. Back then, I could lay down in the floorboard of that 1956 Buick, curl up and go to sleep. In the middle of the night one time back in the 1950's, when I woke up crying with an ear ache, she warmed some cooking oil, and poured it into my ear with a piece of cotton. The pain went away, and I drifted off to sleep. She saw to it we went to church every week. She was my Christian influence when I was coming up. Maybe I wouldn't be a Christian today if it was not for her teaching me the ways of the Lord. What a wonderful Mom she was.
What I have found is that God heals, not time. Even though I have a lot of memories, and I miss my Mom a lot when I think about her as I reminisce, the Lord gives me great peace. You see, even though I have a lot of memories to enjoy, I don't live in the past. Rather, I focus on the future. Someday I am going to see my Savior and Lord coming in the clouds as the Scriptures say, 1 Thess. 4:16-17. Also, I am reminded of the following hymn, "Oh what a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, and I look upon His face, the One Who saved me by His grace. When He takes me by His hand, and leads me through the Promised Land. What a day, glorious day that will be." I will see and be with my Savior, and will be reunited with my Mom, and all the others I know who died in the Lord.
A wonderful Mom, wonderful memories, but oh the future of being with my Lord Jesus, and all my dear fellow believers for all eternity. I have such a long list of names. Come Lord Jesus, come.
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