A Life Well Lived
"Teach what is good."
Titus 2:3 (NIV)
Several years ago my daughter suffered an unexpected bout with shingles. On her way home from Urgent Care, Meredith called, gave a brief summary of the last eight hours, and asked if I could take her two older girls to their swim play date later that morning. "Later" turned out to be less than two hours away, so I hurriedly got ready and went to pick up the girls.
Meredith quickly gave me directions to our swim host's home and a brief rundown on the morning’s logistics. The entire play date would last three hours with our host serving lunch on her patio around noon. There would be several other young moms there with 12-13 children swimming.
"Who else is coming?" I asked.
"I'm not sure," Meredith replied. "It's a different group every week, but all the moms will be members of our Sunday School community."
I picked up Julia and Caroline who quickly filled in other details of what I should expect.
From the backseat seven-year old Julia said, "Mia, have you ever had one of Mrs. Mary Ann's chocolate chip cookies? They are "AWESOME!"
Five-year old Caroline chimed in with, "Her PB&Js are too! She cuts the crusts off our sandwiches."
“What else is on Mrs. Mary Ann's swim party lunch menu?” I asked.
"Red grapes and potato chips with one drink," they replied. "But you have to say, "Please and thank you! And you only get one cookie!"
We arrived at our host's home to find the swimming pool full of kids ages 2-12. Julia and Caroline quickly joined the fun and I settled in with the young moms, all of whom I knew from church and women's Bible studies.
Thursday morning swim and lunch dates were a weekly summer event for Mrs. Mary Ann. She and her husband served as older mentors for this young families Sunday School community. Mrs. Mary Ann's emphasis was on "community," that "reciprocal rootedness" or longing to connect that all of us hope for. She used her time, talent, and treasure to build community, not just on Sunday mornings, but throughout the week as well. Summer Thursday mornings at her home helped young moms and their children get to know each other a little better. In the process, Mrs. Mary Ann knew each of them better too.
Throughout the New Testament the Apostle Paul repeatedly uses the words "one another" to teach us how to build Christian community. There are over twenty "one another" commands throughout Paul's letters as in:
Greet one another
Teach one another
Encourage one another
Love one another
Admonish one another
Serve one another
Offer hospitality to one another
Over the course of our three-hour swim and lunch, I saw each one of those community "one anothers" on display for both children and adults. It was a rich time of fellowship for four generations of moms and children. Our "swim date" was so much more than that as we enjoyed Mrs. Mary Ann's hospitality. Karen Burton Maims once wrote that biblical hospitality is making people feel "welcomed, wanted, and worth the trouble." All of us certainly experienced that.
I marveled at Mrs. Mary Ann's commitment to intentionally and relationally teach and train another generation of women to steward their God-given resources for other's good and God's glory. Mrs. Mary Ann wasn't just teaching manners when she insisted on "please" and "thank you." She was teaching young moms how to teach and train their children as she set expectations and boundaries. Mrs. Mary Ann created space for reciprocal relationships to grow. Our conversation that day included Mrs. Mary Ann's stories from the early days of Briarwood’s rich sixty-year old history. All of us benefited, not just from her pool or lunch menu, but from her wisdom, encouragement, instruction, perspective, and humor.
My takeaways from that Thursday morning swim date were many, but perhaps the biggest one was Mrs. Mary Ann's perspective on aging. When I thanked her for being a mentor and model to these young moms and their children, Mrs. Mary Ann quickly replied in her sweet Southern drawl, "Oh, Honey, it's so much more fun being with them than being with old people!"
I left Mrs. Mary Ann's home that day wondering how many women approaching their eighth decade of living would dare to invest themselves in a weekly summer swim date for 15-20 young people? I was challenged to consider how I steward my own God-given resources. Am I willing to invest my time, talent, and treasure for building community and bridges across generations?
I drove away from Mrs. Mary Ann's with the words of Proverbs ringing in my head and heart, "She laughs at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue....Give her the reward she has earned and let her works praise her at the city gate." (Proverbs 31:25b, 26, 31)
We celebrated Mrs. Mary Ann’s life and legacy last week. Her works did praise her as four generations of her family and countless recipients of her generosity and kindness bore witness to a life well-lived and a race faithfully run.
Well done and thank you Mrs. Mary Ann!