"Wonder Woman has left the building." I've lived my whole life believing that one could do whatever one set their mind to doing. I come from a long line of doers and strong women--and don't intend for the line to be broken with me. Away with fatigue; out with impatience; begone grumpiness!

My mother was forty three when my father walked out and left her with a child to raise on her own with absolutely no help from him. That was the late forties when divorce was an ugly word, women worked inside the home, not in the market place. She returned to school, completed training to be a liscensed practical nurse and worked in that capacity until a back injury put a stop to floor duty. Because she never learned to drive and we lived in a community with no public transportation, she walked the two plus miles to and from the hospital whether she had the day or the night shift. She was one strong woman.

That goes double for her younger sister, my other mother--the aunt who gave me a home when I needed it most. She is almost ninety and still lives alone on the farm where she has lived for the past seventy years. I never have seen her, nor have heard about her turning her back on hard work. She raised a family, cooked the best food ever, she kept house, did all the washing and ironing, helped do farm chores when neeeded and still had time to teach Sunday school. I grew up wanting to do things just like her. Her strength and deep faith have inspired me. Now, as I have become a care partner for Tom I am encouraged by remembering how she cared for my uncle when he too had an illness that made him old before his time.

Neither my mother, nor my aunt would expect the things of me that I expect of myself. They haven't thought of themselves as "wonder women." They got where they got, did what they did because they knew the strength they possessed came from God. I know the same; I just need to quit trying to run the show and depend on the One in charge. After all, I have been taught well.

Blessings,
Pastor Margaret