The View From Stella's Chair

Tonight I'm sitting in my Mom's chair...the one she sat in alot through the years, but especially so during her last year of life on this earth...because she really had no other choice due to the bone cancer that slowly but surely stole her life away.

I'm in Atlanta visiting with my precious Daddy...the first time "home" since Mom's death. It's been bitter-sweet to be here....bitter because I came home to the house at 5225 Vernon Springs Trail (the home I grew up in from 1965 until I got married in 1981, and the house my parents have lived in since moving to Atlanta in 1965), and SHE was not here to greet me as she had always done before...even if only from sitting in her chair near the back door. Not hearing " Hey darlin' " is another "loss"....one that I hadn't identified until Wednesday upon arriving. (Is it any wonder I use " Darlin' " as a term of endearment with my own children as well as others in my life that are precious to me?!)

I've been busy since being here...spending quality time with Daddy talking and catching up, helping him buy a new dryer, being with my Big Sis who drove in Thursday so she and I could work on sorting Mom's things. But late this afternoon, all the activity finally stopped. And so I sat in her chair and began to look around. This is what I saw:

*her PRAISE THE LORD pillow *
It sits on the sofa directly across the room. It reminds me of Mom's "Praise the Lord" mantra and how I grew up under the tutelage of a mother who didn't just have a positive outlook, but one that gave God credit in all things and during both good and hard times. It also reminds me that she invested in others because the pillow was a gift from Boo, a very dear friend and also a woman Mom mentored.

* the pillow that says "The Lord is my Strength and my Song. Exodus 15:2" *
I actually gave this to her sometime after she was diagnosed with cancer. I told her it was to be her focal point....like when a woman who's about to give birth chooses something to focus on during the pain to keep her mind centered on the purpose. It has a ribbon attached to it, so I hung it at the end of the mantle closest to her on one of the hooks that stays there and is used for stocking at Christmastime. She told me on several occasions how much it had helped her during the really pain-filled days. Jim Wood, a former pastor at her church, had stopped by one Sunday during the summer to encourage Mom and Dad. He's the one who used the childbirth analogy. I've never forgotten those insigthful words and how much Mom was strengthened by them as he reminded her to keep fighting the good fight, running the race and enduring the pain because it indeed had a purpose, just like a mother giving birth to her child. Wow.

* the cross-stitched "JESUS" sign *
It sits on top of the entertainment center. It doesn't "go" with anything as far as decor goes. But quite frankly, my Mom didn't care. I'm not saying she didn't know how to decorate her home well or that she didn't care that her home looked nice. She did, but it wasn't an obsession. She loved her Jesus, and she wasn't ashamed to let everyone who came into her house know that.

* her book stand that holds her Bible and all time favorite devotional, Streams in the Desert *
She sat in her chair every morning for as long as I can remember and spent time with her Jesus, reading His word and talking to Him. The devotional book was a gift from a godly woman she knew in Charlotte. Both her Bible and the devotional are well-worn.

To borrow a phrase from Beth Moore, her "private praise matched her public praise"...meaning, Mom didn't "act" like she was godly....she truly was because of the changes that took place each morning as she allowed God's Word to do its transforming in her heart.