Benefactors

“Did you ever see a turtle on a post?” My friend, Rev. Tom Mills, was fond of saying. “You know he did not get there by himself!” It is important to appreciate the benefactors who got us where we are. As we approach Thanksgiving holidays I began thinking of the splendid line of benefactors in my life. Most to whom I never gave a proper “Thank you!”

Without question, my nuclear family was my matrix. As I reflect on it, even from the slips, skips, and bumps I am a beneficiary. Faults and failures can be instructive. It is impossible to name all my benefactors here, nor would you want or need to know. However, I must acknowledge a few key leavening agents in my life; Grandmother Jewel sent gifts on birthdays, Christmas, and Easter; not toys or trinkets— but books that were not only age-level appropriate, but also classics. She loved teaching us children’s songs

When there was no Sunday School room for early elementary children at Deepstep Methodist Church, Grandmother Genie Veal cleaned out a broom closet, brought in chairs, and taught our class. She also taught us respect for the building, and its appointments. Every morning she picked up the UPPER ROOM devotional book that lay by her breakfast plate, and read to us the day’s meditation. It didn’t seem to matter to her that her grits got cold.

An impressive line of teachers and mentors populate my benefactor trail. Some of them, Irene Hall, Otelia Price, and Louise Mills, undergirded my Sunday School and Bible tutelage. Revs. Jack Key and Jack Bentley took the role of “Barnabas” in my fledgling entry into ministry. Teachers, Ms. Hazel Bedgood Metts, my long-suffering high school teacher (I had 10th & 11th Grade English, Journalism, and American Literature from her). She was the muse of my venture into writing; Dr. Clyde J. Faries honed (as far as he could) my public speaking; Dr. Fielding Russell (brother to the late Senator Richard B. Russell,) ignited my love for English Literature.

I cannot begin to name the many lay people, family, and clergy who did and continue to shape my life. But almost every day I reflect on one or more of the “cloud of witnesses” who live in my life and heart. In Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses, he said, “I am a part of all that I have met.” That’s it in a nutshell! There is more to you than you can recognize, but for what is recognizable, appropriate gratitude is due.

Even of those bumps, bruises, and failures in times past, you and I are beneficiaries. The Apostle Paul proclaimed that failure did not define him. He found ways to move forward. The Holy Scriptures are full of the redeeming love of God; Think King David, whose moral lapse (maybe collapse?) was redeemed; starting with Psalm 51. Other Psalms attributed to him echo his 180° turn-around. Jesus offered absolution to a woman who was about to be stoned to death for her iniquitous ways, and he offered Eternal hope to a criminal who hung dying beside him.

The Apostle Paul took time to encourage his son-in-ministry, Timothy. He wrote a heartfelt appreciation for his and Timothy’s benefactors, Busy as he was, and the duress under which he operated, he remembered. It is too easy for us, weighed down by schedules, obligations, and voiceless, implied demands to forget to offer a simple “Thank you!” The morass can be numbing. But there is hope; remember the turtle on the post? It is a metaphor for every one of us. None of us got where we are by ourselves. The benefactors in our life played a major role in putting us where we are. Thank you—each one!