Today is a poignant day for our family. Three years ago we said goodbye to my mum who went to be with her Lord and Saviour. Today would also have been my grandma’s birthday. At the time we thought it fitting that they were reunited on Nanna’s birthday and also with mum’s younger sister our Auntie Geraldine (Pat) who left us far too early thirty years ago. However, for mum, whilst there will have been a joyful reunion, her focus was very much on going home to see her Lord and Saviour.
All three of them left behind a powerful legacy to children, grandchildren and in Nanna’s case great grandchildren.
I’ve shared previously how Nanna, Grandpa and my mum found faith in Jesus whilst Grandpa was serving in the armed forces in Singapore. This is the most important legacy they passed on. They started by sharing their faith at home. Mum would read us Bible stories, sing with us and teach us memory verses. Visits to Nanna’s were filled with stories of her adventures in Singapore and Aden and her life story was a constant pointer to what it means to live all out for Jesus. My Uncle Jon has captured many of those stories in his books.
Both opened up their lives and homes to others and modelled hospitality to us. There were constant visitors from around the world to our home when I was growing up. I’ve talked before about how Grandma took to her heart a couple of Afro Caribbean ladies who sadly experienced rejection and racism from the church. Mum told me that when she had moved to Bradford and joined Sunbridge Road Mission that God had led her not to make a beeline for friends on a Sunday but to wait at the back and look out for new people sitting on their own. In her later years, she had a group of older ladies that she looked out for and during COVID made it her duty to phone round to check in.
In fact some of you may have met mum, not in person but online during COVID when she joined our church’s Facebook services and she would pick up on the pastors needs of people joining in the comments and be praying for them. She also would call some of the 90 year olds from Bearwood, also now with Jesus.
Nanna and mum both sought to witness for Jesus and use the opportunities given them, Nanna as a Methodist local preacher, mum involved in open air and door to door work. In fact one of the reasons I have a commitment to one to one evangelism now is because mum modelled it for me.
We sometimes say at our church that the local church needs mums and Dads. Here we have examples of ladies who were mums at home and in the church whether in England (later Scotland too for Nanna), Singapore, Aden or China. That’s the lasting legacy they have left behind and it will be their reward and crown in Glory. What legacy are you leaving?
Faithroots 