Our Silent Servant

Four years ago, we were elated when Marshall and Shaylen were born on the fifth of December. That was Great Grandpa Rutledge's birthday and he was tickled pink that he was FINALLY getting a great granddaughter. We were happy to oblige. What we didn't know, was that there was a dear lady in our congregation at Cornerstone whose birthday was also on the fifth. Her name is Mary. She is what we call our "silent servant". If Mary sees a need she quietly takes care of it. There is no pomp and circumstance. It just gets done. Many, many times Mary has been a huge blessing to our family. In fact, Taigen mentioned her as an illustration in his Sunday morning sermon.

Mary had a dear sister named Ethel who always called me "dear" and "darling" in that soft-spoken New England accent. A few years ago, Ethel found out that she had cancer and moved back to Arizona to be near family. When Ethel really started to go downhill, Mary left everything here in Maine to go and be with her. She didn't expect Ethel to live long. Ethel lived another 14 months, and in those 14 months, Mary quietly served her sister and lost just about everything she had left here: her job, insurance, her apartment.

Ethel loved listening to the harp. Mary had arranged for a harpist to come and play and sing one day, not knowing that it was Ethel's last day on this earth. A picture was taken as Ethel was listening and you can see her complete rapture at the sound! Mary was there that night when Ethel quietly slipped away into heaven. I grieved with her.

When Grammie Endean told me that Mary was heading back to Maine I was elated. Cornerstone was getting a group of men together to get some of her furniture out of a basement and the church family was going to stuff her cupboards and get her apartment ready. How wonderful! Of course, we had to participate too! Grammie knows how much Mary means to us and arranged for a "Welcome Home Happy Birthday": party for Mary, Marshall and Shaylen. Seeing Mary was worth a million bucks to me. We had a wonderful time together on Thursday evening and the kids got reacquainted with her.

Mary brought pictures to share and we remarked that she has no regrets, only sweet memories. I hope one day that I can have a testimony like this dear sweet lady.

(Pictured from left to right: Shaylen, "Grammie" Endean, Marshall and Mary)