10 Years

I had a very insightful friend ask me yesterday, how did your mom disciple you? My mind immediately went to the formalities, kind of a tick-the-box formulation: Were there daily devotionals, Q + A in which some rich spiritual wisdom was passed down to me? Did she fail me? Will I fail? Am I supposed to have a master plan?

I stalled.

Then I started talking.

I told of how she was a skilled homemaker, how she decorated and filled her home with beauty order, cleanliness, and peace. She gardened and made food for her family, every night, without grumbling. “She looks well to the ways of her household”.

She also opened her home constantly. I never saw her dash around in a fit to accommodate, as in she was totally unprepared and unhappy with a regiment of guests and/or small children coming through. “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the times to come”.

She served others, those who weren’t very important from a worldly viewpoint. She was merciful and gracious. “She opens her hand to the poor, and reaches out her hands to the needy.”

Her life was an outpouring of discipleship to her Lord. My mom couldn’t hide what motivated her, what brought her joy, what she was obedient to. Children have a birds eye view to all of this, as I did.

Today, as I mark 10 years since her passing, motherhood confronts me with the reality of discipleship lived out and seen by those closest to me. Jane Brdlik did disciple her family well because was loved so well by her Lord. If I am to mirror her life in the smallest of ways, I will not fail.  "Let her works praise her in the city gates.”