OP-Ed: MOTHER’S OLD CHAIR
Galatians 6: 9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
By Van Yandell
Mother bought a pair of yard chairs in the 1950’s. Steel constructed with a curved one-piece leg assembly, those chairs were to be cherished for years to come.
The bodies they supported in comfort and conversation for those years are too numerous to count or to even try to imagine.
Sunday afternoons were special. Friends or relatives would come over (or Mom and Dad would go visiting). I was forced to go along on those visits because they couldn’t trust me to stay out of trouble.
Many of the residents of our little western Kentucky town believed in demons. I’ll not go into the details of why!
Sitting in those metal chairs was not thought of as anything special but if some of their occupants had known how long the chairs would outlive them, panic would have erupted.
Mother was much prouder of those chairs than me, simply because she realized they would be in her presence much longer; or perhaps because they would always be where she could see them.
A few years ago one of the chairs collapsed and the other, yesterday. They lasted over seventy years and my first thought was, “They don’t make them the way they used to.”
Being a former industrial arts teacher and carpenter, you might know I have many tools. Actually, some belonged to my dad and are also very old. Wrenches of various kinds, hammers, pliers and measuring tools, they are in better shape than newly produced ones.
When using any of those tools the same thought crosses my mind: “They don’t make them the way they used to.”
I’m thinking they don’t make mothers like they used to either. Of course many would argue that thought and that’s okay. If you don’t think your mother was the grandest woman in the world, we need to have a little talk.
Mom put up with a lot out of me. I was a free spirit part of the time and the town dog at other times. In the summers and many times on school days, when leaving home she never knew where I’d end up and apparently didn’t worry much. She really became suspicious when I took my fishing rod to school.
A lot of time was spent over at the “horse lot” pond fishing. On Saturdays we all met at the ball park and played baseball even in the winter.
Some of the things we did would make mothers of today cringe and in some cases pass out. Drinking out of a water hose, swimming (unclothed) in a farm pond and exploring a few local caves were activities I failed to share with Mom.
But she hung in there with me and Dad. I’m sure her nerves were shredded to a frazzle and what kept her heart from exploding had to be based on God wanting her to live a little longer.
She tried to inspire me to make good grades in school but that kind of thing didn’t appeal to me. I was probably her greatest gift from God and her greatest disappointment at times all rolled into one.
Mom thought the church was where I needed to be on Sunday mornings. That was non-negotiable! Arguing or begging didn’t work with her and if I tried, daddy got into the discussion and preferably (on my part) it was best for that not to happen.
As most Americans, I have a lot to be thankful for. At the top of the list is that I was born into a Christian home with parents that were adamant about my up-bringing and Christian teaching was at the center of their beliefs.
Somewhere during the early years I was taught John 3: 16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Being forced to go to Sunday School as a youngster probable caused my teachers and of course mom, more heartache than I prefer to think about.
I always had lots of questions. When I asked “Why didn’t the whale digest Jonah or why didn’t he smother in the belly of the whale for three days?” trouble was on the horizon. I will take credit for enhancing their prayer lives.
As the years passed, the Christian teachings by Mother and Dad made their desired impact. I became a firm believer in Jesus Christ as the one true Creator God (John 1: 1-3), and that belief intensified into an adamant compulsion to tell others about our Jesus.
Many Christians in old age will tell, we are not the same person we were at ten years old, or twenty or thirty. We change! We evolve and we learn.
As the years have passed, I realize and many others will probably agree, good or bad, our moms and dads made us who and what we are.
The Christian teaching of eternal security (John 10: 28-30), by our belief is supported by Biblical evidence specifically the information God gave in the Bible no mere mortal could have known 2000 to 3000 years ago.
We must always teach that eternal salvation is attained by a faith based belief (Ephesians 2: 8) in Christ Jesus crucified (Matthew 27: 35) for the remission of sin (1 John 1: 9), resurrected (Matthew 28: 6) and ascended alive in to Heaven (Acts 1: 9).
Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and commissioned missionary. His email is vmy3451@gmail.com