Remembering Great Aunt Lucille

On Friday night, my husband's great aunt Lucille passed away. She was his grandmother's sister and the last of the three sisters still living. Since Rachel started working at the nursing home last summer, she had grown quite close to her great, great aunt. She would make it a point of stopping in to visit with her every time she worked. At Homecoming, we stopped by the nursing home to show Lucille and some of the other residents her dress. It was then that we took this picture.

On Tuesday when we went to the visitation, Lucille's daughter and son-in-law made a point of telling both Rachel and I how much those visits meant to Lucille. They told us that Rachel's visits put a sparkle in her eyes. As a mother, it did my heart good to hear those things. I am also grateful that Rachel had the opportunity to get to know her great, great aunt. As she said, she was kind of like a great grandma to her as her great grandma (aunt Lucille's sister), was not well for most of Rachel's growing up years and diesd several years ago. We gave this picture to Lucille's daughter and 2 granddaughters.

I attended the funeral while Rachel stayed home with Levi. It was a beautiful funeral and a wonderful trivute to a woman that I wish I would have had more of an opportunity to know better. She was remembered as a gentle, quiet and dignified woman who loved her family and loved flowers and birds. She could probably ell you the name of every flower in the bouquets at her funeral. She was someone who knew what it meant to be slow to speak and quick to listen. She loved to travel and as the minister shared, she was even just recently planning another trip with a fellow resident and friend - an "escape" from the home!

In Matthew 6:25-30, Jesus tells us not to worry. He tells us to look at the birds and to consider the lillies of the field. These were two things that great aunt Lucille really liked and Jesus used them to teach us a lesson. He tells us not to worry because the birds of the air do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet our Heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't we more valuable than they? The lillies (or any other flowers) do not labor or spin and yet even Soloman in all his splendor was not dressed like one of them. Again, if God will do this for the flowers which are here today and then wither and die in a short time, will He not also do it for us? Aunt Lucille seemed to have learned this lesson well. I think that I too need to learn this lesson. How about you?