Pure Religion (Spiritual Journey Memoirs part II)

   When I reflect on the earliest, most influential moments of my spiritual journey, it will come as no surprise to those who know anything of my family that my mother was truly the most formative person in my life. Without her, I'm not sure at all about the person I would be but I thank God that in his sovereign plan He gave me her as my mother. Her life was a sermon to me growing up; the daily grind, her pulpit. I have early memories of her tender servant's heart for God's most vulnerable and fragile, particularly widows.

  She really did have a gift. When I was really little--like any child who thinks any activity without toys is a waste of time--I dreaded sitting for what seemed an eternity while she talked, talked, talked. I would realize later that Mom was teaching me some of the most powerful lessons of my life. There was one particular lady who mom visited for several years. She would wash her hair, make her food and her favorite dessert: gingerbread. This little lady was of extremely humble means. I remember sitting on her sofa and falling into it. My child's heart, self-centered as it was, began to feel a deep feeling I had never felt before. It was compassion. Deep, deep compassion. I began to look forward to every visit. To hear her stories and see her big sweet smile. She loved my mother and it was my mother she called for when she lay in a hospital bed passing from this life. In her last hours on earth she blessed Mom in a very Abrahamic way, laying her hand on Mom's head and praying for God's blessings on her. She had already instructed Mom what to dress her in when she passed, a dress Mom had sown for her. She wanted to go out "pretty." I would pass her old house in recent years on the way to the obstetrician during each pregnancy. Every single time I would think of her and usually tell whoever was in the car with me the same stories.

  Over the years there would always be widows such as her. At the time I didn't realize how much I was learning. I was too young to understand the power of her example. Not only did she teach me scripture directly and pray with me, but she made it real by living it out. I cannot read James 1:27 without thinking of her:

 "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."