Mentors

"Children need adults who can go for casual walks and talk about [trees and birds] and stuff like that...and slow down to look at pretty leaves and caterpillars...and answer questions God and the nature of the world as it is." --Dobson

Last Sunday Dad got it in his mind to drive two hours (Palm Springs) to say hello to Joe and Marguerite Love and sit at their table and have coffee with them. I guess he wanted to hear those old familiar words, "Well come right on in here and sit on down, Pastor Fred, I just put on a fresh pot of coffee!" He did just that, and then took them to their church and worshipped with them. And before two hours were up, he was back on the road to head home.

On Tuesday he received a thank you note for that visit. I wanted to share it with "All the Loves of My Life."

Dear Pastor Fred -- Age "60"-- a great age and you are a true blessing to us. Thanks for such a special Sunday. Greetings to all your dear ones.
Freddie--I want a blizzard and a hot dog.
Isaac--I will take a fish.
Annie--your smile and your love for your parents. You are a dear daughter.
Becky?? A wife of joy, love, kindness and laughter makes Fred a Happy Man.
Love, the Loves

I'm not sure if I've shared with you all about some of the mentors God has used in my life--and I will one day write to you about them. But Marguerite Love is one mentor the Lord brought into my life at just the right time to be an example of the Proverbs woman for me--a real live example with skin on! During the eight years at Sunkist that I had the privilege of sitting under her "tutelage," I watched her work in the church kitchen, visit "old people," take food to anyone who might need it, myself included, babysit anyone's kids, or pets, mine included, teach Bible school, make homemade pudding and the best pie crusts I've ever tasted, shop for everyone but herself, host hundreds of church events, take in overnight missionaries, work in her garden, clean her yard, then her neighbors' yards, hunt for bargains from one garage sale to another, and then give it all away to anyone who might need it, take care of her grandchildren, other people's grandchildren, sew beautiful clothes for her children, grandchildren, me, and my children, support multiple young families headed for any mission field, go to the mission field herself and work in a kitchen, head for family camp, year after year, chauffeuring anyone who might need a ride, and all the while being utterly grateful to God for her life.

One of the memories I have of Marguerite was when the first microwave ovens came out. She had to have one. And not only that but she sold them to everyone she knew. She demo'd them at grocery stores and fairs. Never one be behind the times on anything!

Those are the things that Marguerite did. Then there were things Marguerite said. Marguerite can talk with the best of them. And she openly, gladly, cheerfully, and practically shared her opinion, her philosophy, her faith, and her trials, with the practical Missouri attitude that basically tells it like it is with absolute wonder at people in this world who can't see it the same way--remind you of another Missourian in our world (see above photo!)? "I just said, Becky (Fred, Joe, or whoever she's speaking to), it's like I always say...I've got a roof over my head and food in the 'fridgerator, what more could I want?" Or, "We're not dead yet! I'm still moving, just a little slower, I can get in that car go to the grocery store and to church, what else do I need?"

Marguerite is an old fashioned woman, but has never, ever, let the changing times overwhelm her. When church music changed, probably not really to her liking, she's still right there on the front row supporting the musicians. When the clothing styles changed, she would get out the sewing machine and make sure the little girls in her world were dressed accordingly. The times have changed, and she so uniquely has kept up with those changes, but never changing the core of who she is--a practical, giving, sharing, and patient woman. When her kids and grandkids choices may not have been the choices she would have made, she supports them wholeheartedly.

In my opinion, things have not been easy for Marguerite. She's had many real challenges in her life--and yet, to know her or speak with her, you would never know it. She has made those challenges, and those terrific changes in the world around her, appear to be seamless, acceptable, reasonable almost, because, after all, it all comes from God, and He is in control, and He is going to make it all right one day.

What a blessed woman, and here, once again, with a simple handwritten note, she has blessed my life so much again--reminding me of those God has brought into my life to help me see the world through grateful eyes, patient eyes, longsuffering eyes. I love Marguerite Love, so very much.