her parting shot

"Drive carefully!"

These are the words that I hear every time I leave my teacher's house--drive carefully. It would be quite a normal thing to say to a student as they left your house except...I don't drive. I don't have my license or a car, and I don't think I'll be getting either for a while (you need money for such things).

Dear Judy knows perfectly well that I will walk across her lawn and down Grover street for about a mile before I reach the Lynden Library. She knows perfectly well that I don't drive, that I don't have my license or a car. But still she says these blessed words: "Drive carefully" in her cheerful, sunny voice. I complain too much. My family is well aware of that fact. But it reminds me every time she says it. I reminds me to...

"...be resigned, bear up, bear on the end shall tell, the dear Lord ordereth all things well!"

You may not see the connection between the use of a funny little illogical phrase and my contentment, but it makes plenty of sense to me. What if I couldn't walk at all? As much as I hate, despise and loath having to ask for rides of people, what if I wasn't able even to walk one mile in order to get across town?

But aside from all this, I want to share with you all the simple preciousness of a person who must impact my life very deeply. Judy is the image of endurance and cheerfulness. She is my dear Mother's age and she took a job nobody else would keep just because they needed her. It is not exactly the ideal, wonderful, nice pay with benefits job. Her employers are ridiculously tight-fisted. And what hard work and dedication they get from my wonderful Judith Lynn! When she's breaking her back, all she'll say is, "am I doing this to the glory of God?" and goes back and does it better. She shall have her reward--her children (Drea and me) shall praise her in the gates!