It
was a tough battle that promised not to end any time soon. When God
called Noah's wife, Nenee, home to be with Him, the battle became
even harder to survive. Nenee had lung problems the last 23 of her 71
years. Noah could still picture himself slipping the wedding ring on
her finger in the little log cabin church, as the circuit-riding
preacher, in a few moments, pronounced them husband and wife, almost
half a century ago.
Noah
couldn't count the number of times he used the back door of their
little home, because Nenee was in her front porch 'office',
counseling girls and young women. Her technique never changed – it
didn't need to. Nenee sat in one home-made rocking chair with her
well-worn Bible open on her lap, at the ready. The hurting one was in
a similar rocker as both faced the fresh smelling forest, just a few
yards away.
Any
counseling professional today would be plum proud of those front
porch moments – putting worlds back on track with God's directed
mentoring. Today, some of her efforts would be labeled 'wellness
training'. But in those front porch moments, one rocker spoke to the
other what Nenee called 'willness training'.
To
start with, she always preferred being called 'Granny' by others. It
sort of put a homey partnering to the moments together. As she began
with someone new, she'd engage the hurting one by talking about the
forest; in front of them. It was God's forest that He made, and He
made it for us. That forest had soft sweet-smelling parts over here
and harsh brutal things over there. God's forest included flowers,
berries, birds, bears, and briers. Granny was always strong on her
student seeing that it all fit together, and stayed that way. God was
in control when He made that forest, and He still is.
The
Willness lessons made it clear, that in some respect, each of us has
a forest within us and our daily activities too. We've been designed
by the same One that created that birds 'n bears forest. And He wants
us to work at putting our inside-outside forest in His capable
control too. Without being pushy, Granny would hold her ragged Bible
over to have her student read comforting promises written just for
them. One of Nenee's lessons dealt with God's schedule of things in
His creation and our timing of our selfish agendas that needed to be
fashioned toward His. As the Willness lessons began to be
understood, it was like opening a solid path; a lane letting in the
light of truth and hope into those inside-outside forests we all
carry around.
Today,
Noah ached to have his precious Granny rocking on that front porch
and they both share more Willness lessons and their promises. These
rather empty days without her, would sometimes flash images of Him
sitting in Nenee's rocker and sharing those Willness lessons with
teens hungry for a path of light through their forest flooded with
confusion and stress.
Noah
wanted to get some branches and try to fashion one of those long-ago
rocking chairs, flooded with prayers asking God to take him off his
spectator bench and share with others the Willness lessons that
reform our wills and ways into God's all-knowing ways of love, hope,
and purpose.
