New Year Blessings to all of you! I am sure most of you know my mom passed away this December around Christmas. It was her favorite time of year. In fact, she asked her church to keep up the Christmas decorations for her wedding until she and my father were married on January 10, 1959. This was actually the season of Epiphany and Christmas decorations should have been put into boxes in the church attic! Concordia Lutheran Church agreed to have another week of Christmas and mom and dad did have Christmas decorations for their wedding.
Mom continued to bless our family for many years with her love of Christmas with wonderful decorations for our home and many holiday traditions, which included cookies, visits to Santa and the never forgotten Lutefisk and Lefse dinner on Christmas Eve. I am sure many of you have traditions for the holidays which make this time of year special, too. Mom had a great love of Christmas, but an ever greater love for her God and perhaps this is the greatest gift she gave to her family. Mom had a very strong faith. She knew that God would be with her during all the joys and sorrows life has to offer. She knew her faith would be strengthened by her church family, through bible study, worship on Sunday mornings and prayer. When she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2002, her favorite bible verse was posted on the refrigerator door in her kitchen, 1 Corinthians 2:16, For we have the mind of Christ. And yes, God was with her through her struggles with Alzheimer’s. One question, she continued to ask her granddaughters as they became older was ”Do you have a boyfriend?” and “When are you getting married?” She would finish by stating that “It is good for you”! Mom meant that family was important to her and she wanted that family to continue on through her granddaughters and their future families.
Mom also had many friends throughout her church and the neighborhood. She was a friend you could count on and later in life she had to count on those friends. Their love for her was especially evident during the last years of her life by taking her out to lunch and driving her places, or picking her up when she forgot where she parked the car. One friend, Fran commented to me that mom was upset that she couldn’t remember certain events of her life. Fran told me she always reassured mom, “Don’t worry Marilynn, I will do the remembering for both of us.” We put mom to rest on the eve of Christmas, December 23 at our family church in Mount Prospect. One of the most powerful moments of this Christmas for me was this family of faith at Martha and Mary Lutheran Church, who nurtured and blessed our own family for many years, took mom in their arms and sang How Great thou Art as she left the church for the last time. This family of faith, as you are a family of faith continue to do the work of a God who never stops loving and caring for us through all our joys and sorrows in this life until we move on to eternal life with Him. Blessings and thankfulness to all of you and for all of you in this new year.
