My mother was a special woman in so many ways. For one thing she had to put up with my father, my sister and myself. That in itself, showed great fortitude. She and my dad lived a fairly meager life, but they managed to scrape up enough money to give my sister and me a Christian education.  It was important to both of them that we be grounded in the faith.

In her later years, mom felt sad that she didn’t “know enough” about religion. I have no doubt that my mom had more “knowledge” regarding faith than she ever realized. She lived it through her love and compassion of others. She made no distinction when it came to sharing herself. Her childlike faith, made her precisely the kind of person that God calls to heaven.

Sometimes I think we believe we have to be theological scholars or ones who have struggled greatly in our lives, to witness to Jesus’ love.  Those things do not win us a place in heaven.  Jesus is the only way to receive freedom from the captivity of sin.

My mom was convinced of that until her dying day.  When she finally reached the final moment of submission to death, I could tell by the look in her eyes that she had received the promise of heaven.

Whenever I hear a sermon about stewardship I think of her. We don’t need theological degrees to spread God’s love to others. There’s a hymn that sums it up.

If you cannot speak like angels, If you cannot preach like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus, you can say He died for all.
If you cannot rouse the wicked with the Judgment’s dread alarms,
You can lead the little children to the Savior’s waiting arms