We are here today to celebrate the life of an incredible woman. A godly saint. Someone who was a faithful wife. A loving mother. A dear grandmother. A great neighbor. A great sister. A great aunt. A fantastic pastor’s wife. A great friend. I could go on. But ever how you knew her, we have the opportunity today to celebrate the life of Imogene White.
Oh, and what a life it was!
She raised an incredible family. She built churches. She laughed at a thousand jokes and told a thousand heart-warming stories. She was full of joy, full of love. She sang ten thousand songs. She prepared ten thousand meals.
I remember those famous banana puddings of hers (can I get a witness here). And all the church said amen. And one night in particular I became furious that Grandpa had eaten the last of the pudding without sharing any with me. I threw such a fit that I got a big whipping over it. Yes, a great, big bowl of that banana pudding was worth a whipping any day.
Speaking of whippings, when I was young and got into trouble Grandmother would tell me to go out and get her a hickory switch. Do ya’ll know what I’m talking about? It means, quoting from the King James Version here, that under the authority of the Word of God, that my grandmother was about to extend the right hand of fellowship to my blessed assurance. I knew I deserved a whipping but when she told me to go fetch a hickory switch, I would go out into the woods and pick the scrawniest, sorriest excuse for a stick I could find. Something that hopefully would completely disintegrate when it came in contact with my backside, and I would present it to her. Even with my hearing problem I can still hear her voice: “No, you go out there and get me a REAL hickory switch.”
She knew how to discipline those she loved. And we all agree she was full of love, wasn’t she?
My mother shared one of her favorite memories with us yesterday about how they didn’t have any money when she was growing up. But Grandmother would always make sure they had something special at Easter and Christmas. She would take them to the park in Marietta, or some other special place. Forget Times Square in New York, she would take them to the (pause) lighting of the Villa Rica Christmas tree. She always made it special for her kids, and I’m sure they will never forget that.
What she lacked financially, she made up for with love. I remember as a teenager feeling guilty when I looked inside the mailbox, opened up a birthday card from her and pulled out a $20 check, knowing she didn’t have it to give. But she wanted to. She was a giver. My own mother today is a giver, and I think I know where she got that from. The Bible says God loves a cheerful giver, so I guess that means Grandmother White must have been his favorite.
We could talk about her strength! Just 4 short years ago she got the bright idea to haul a ladder out of her barn and climb up on the roof of her house to clean out the gutters. And somehow while getting up there the ladder broke and fell into the bushes below, leaving her stranded on the roof. Now she could have pulled out her smart phone, fired up the wireless internet, adjusted her Bluetooth device, and started texting. (But she didn’t have one. I know, I’m shocked!) (imitates texting) But I can just imagine her texting up there, “Uh, ‘scuse me neighbor, I know that I am 80 years old and have no business up here, but I somehow have managed to get myself stranded on the top of my house and was wondering if you might be able to come over and help. Because if Debbie hears about this she is going hit the roof!” (no pun intended!)
But somehow managed to take the long pole that she was using to clear out the gutters, bend over the edge of the roof, and use that pole to fish the ladder out of those bushes, and then bind up the ladder by some divine miracle, thus getting herself safely off of that roof. What an amazing woman!
You know sometimes there are situations that at first glance look very, very bad, but they aren’t bad at all. Sometimes when someone is so completely out of their normal environment the effect is downright hilarious. Grandmother was the victim of just such an occasion.
She suffered from arthritis, and Beverly, just trying to help, mentioned that there was a homemade remedy consisting of raisins and bourbon. Soak the raisins in the bourbon for awhile, eat the raisins, and it can reduce inflammation. Now Grandmother didn’t drink and wasn’t interested, but Beverly kept on. And one day they were driving down the road and Beverly brought the subject up again. She said, “Mother, why don’t I find a store up here and get you what you need,” and not knowing what was about to happen, Grandmother finally agreed.
So Beverly kept driving and finally pulled into the parking lot of this – liquor- store, and said you stay here, I’ll find what I think we need and will be right back. But Beverly had a cigarette and wasn’t finished with it, so she said here, roll down the window and hold my cigarette for me while I go inside.
So Grandmother rolled down the window, stuck her hand out the door, and Beverly handed her the cigarette.
Yes.
So with my sincere apologies to the Mastercard people, get the picture here:
- Pack of raisins: $3.99.
- Small container of bourbon: $8.95.
- The picture of my dear Grandmother, paragon of virtue and strength, shining example of everything that is pure and holy and true. The picture of her with the window rolled down, holding a cigarette in the middle of a liquor store parking lot. Priceless!No stranger to pain, she comforted others.
No stranger to heartache, she knew how to bind up the hearts of others and speaking words of truth and healing into their lives.
You realize that she received every blessing God planned for her this side of eternity. God put her on this earth for a reason, and she performed faithfully. She, along with the Apostle Paul, can stand with confidence in the presence of God and declare that she has fought a good fight. That she has finished her course. That she has kept the faith.
Uncle David, you said it so perfectly yesterday, capturing the essence of everything Grandmother stood for. You said, “for as long as I can remember she never once wavered in her faith.” I don’t think I have ever heard that said so completely about anyone else in my entire life. That’s saying a lot, that someone never wavered.
She was a living, breathing example of Jesus Christ. If I asked you to describe her, you would use words like loving. Joyful. Compassionate. Faithful. Sincere. Long-suffering. Patient. Kind. Generous. Self-sacrificing. And so on. And you would be right.
On Monday afternoon something very special to us was taken from us, and that’s why it hurts – because a part of us is now missing. But you know what? As I considered this it hit me very strongly that the gift she gave us is far greater than what has been taken from us!
It sounds somehow, “wrong” to say that, and yet you know it is true. The gift she gave us is far greater than what has been taken from us. For me to believe otherwise would be to suggest that my momentary grief is somehow greater than the life she lived. That the pain I feel today, the tears, the sorrow, somehow overshadows the beautiful legacy she has left for all of us.
Some of us would not be here today were it not for her. When I was maybe 12 years old I was cutting her grass and was headed right for an exposed gas line. She ran out of the house and stopped me before it was too late.
Would I be standing here today if it weren’t for her? I don’t know.
Maybe she saved your life. Even better, maybe she shared her faith with you. Maybe she took you in. Maybe she prepared any number of meals for you. Maybe she just let you know how very, very much she loved you. And if you can’t think of any of those things, recall a time in your life where you went through a difficult time and have no earthly idea how you made it through. That, you see, was when she prayed for you. James 5:16 says the fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much. Some of us are living proof of the power of that scripture.
So celebrate her life today. Celebrate the gifts she gave to each one of us. Celebrate the beauty of a godly woman who has stepped grandly into eternity. Celebrate with her as she receives the reward that she worked a lifetime for.
In closing, there is one thing I know she would want me to say right now. She would want me to tell you how grand and glorious heaven is, and how the thought would break her heart if there were anyone here today that wasn’t ready to meet God. That maybe some of us need to make things right and to deal with some things.
Some of us may never have made the decision for Christ. Others of us may have somehow forgotten what is important. So how better to celebrate her life than to take the simple step of asking forgiveness and renewing our love for the God she served with her whole heart? What better way to celebrate her life than to renew our relationship with the Creator?
Let us pray.
Heavenly father, I thank you so much for the life of Grandmother White. I think you for the life she lived, I thank you for the legacy she left for each one of us. I thank you for her faithfulness to you. And I thank you even more for your faithfulness to her and to all of us.
This day we consider how short our lives really are, and we ask forgiveness for anything in our hearts that shouldn’t be there. Forgive us our sins, and strengthen us for the months and years ahead, that we will be all that you have called us to be, that we will do everything you have ordained for us to do, and that we will please you with our lives in everything we do.
Heavenly father I thank you once again for the friends and family gathered here today, they are an incredible blessing and I am so grateful to each one of them. May you comfort them, Lord, each one, and remind them that you are a good God, all the time, and that you have ordered the steps of the righteous, and that you have not forgotten us, not even for one brief moment.
And Father, we honor you today, thanking you for every good gift that comes from your hands. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
