She weathered the Great Depression, although she claims they were too poor to feel the effects of it; World War Two, when she had her first child who lived while Paw Paw was away; the feminist movement, although she claims what caused her to wear pants for the first time was working in the chicken houses; Kennedy’s assassination, the civil rights movement, the Hippies, Ronald Reagan, the Trade Towers, and so forth and so on.
Loud and a spitfire, devoted wife and mama, extremely cautious (You had better put some socks on that baby’s feet.) and musically gifted, Maw Maw often tells me the story of how she learned to play the piano without taking lessons. "I had one lesson," she remembers. "It was bad."
She also tells the story of standing beside me singing at church. "I didn’t know you could sing alto," she whispered.
"What’s alto?" I replied, confused.
Try to explain that to a little kid. I still laugh about this story.
This woman has been a lighthouse in our family and in our community. She has been a fortress of strength and part of the foundation of my spiritual life. Had Paw Paw died in the war, my mom wouldn’t be here, thus I wouldn’t be. Had they not raised my mama in church, Mom wouldn’t have taken us to church all those years before Dad started going.
It seems like so many things had to happen to get me where I am today.
Just ask my students: I talk about my Maw Maw and Paw Paw a lot. They’re the only tie I have to another life, a culture completely different than our own, an age where things were of value and life was slower, when people would pop in to fellowship, drink a cup of coffee, break beans, break bread, and share stories of old.
Yesterday, before we went back home after swimming at Mom’s, the kids and I stopped at Maw Maw’s to see her for a while. She gets to the door a lot slower these days.
"Play me a tune, Mal."
"Okay, what do you want me to play?"
"I don’t care."
What a Day That Will Be
I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before
Amazing Grace
He Paid a Debt
Once Upon a Hill
And as the twanging of an old piano cascaded through the house, a loud little voice could be heard from a little girl singing on her makeshift stage, the coffee table, and her maw maw didn’t mind at all, because music. All in the name of music.
"I think I heard someone else singing, Mal."
"Yes ma’am."
"You’re raising them right."
And I thought where is a camera? I want to remember this forever. A two-year-old and her ninety-three-year-old maw maw, singing the same songs together. If I could only stop time.
Unfortunately, I’ll have to remember that moment in my heart, and I’m okay with that.
Notice that there were no conversations on organic food, antibiotics, vaccines, homeschool, screen time, cosleeping, etc.
Mamas, I hope you have a "Maw Maw Powell" in your life to clear things up for you and keep you straight. When life is feeding you lies, telling you that you’re not a good mom, just remember how simply Maw Maw put it.
Like Paul, aggravated at the Galatians for falling back into the Law to justify them, we attach ourselves to our own idolatrous "mom laws." We sometimes quantify our worth based on how well we abide in our own expectations as opposed to how we abide with Him and each other. We often covet each other and question how we mother our children. We base our reasoning on the world and the current trends. We live in fear to counteract our fear.
To fear everything is essentially claiming we have more control over our lives than God does. It doesn’t add up.
Here’s the truth, though: We can’t come up with our own philosophy, our own gospel, of what being a good mom or a good Christian is. The truth is, we won’t EVER be good enough, and God knows this.
Oh, what a Savior.
He knows! Continuing to feed our idolatry through our own expectations and rules will only breed discontent and dissatisfaction, furthering the gap between God and true freedom.
"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other." Galatians 5:13-15
It’s so easy, but we make it so hard.
Maw Maw, thanks for clearing that up for me and reminding me what matters.
I will always play the old songs for you, Maw, and I will remember how you broke your own "mom rules"...how you let two little girls bang on your piano and stand on your coffee table...thirty years apart...because you saw something in me.
I wonder if you see something in her.
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