Legacy of the Shining Path

Brother Anderson, Dec. 1998

One pleasant autumn afternoon I walked out into the front yard of our home and observed the trees shedding their leaves. The once-green, thriving leaves had turned brown and were now blanketing the ground. As my eyes scanned the barren branches I spotted a tree that was thriving while all those around it appeared to be dying. It was vibrant and green. It was an oak tree, seemingly just like all of the other oak trees in my front yard. However, there was something different about this oak tree. This tree was a "live oak." A "live oak" stays green year-around. During the summer I could not tell the difference between the oak trees. But as winter drew near, this one oak tree stood out in stark contrast to the others. It was thriving while the others were dying for the winter.

People are a lot like oak trees. During the bright days of summer, when life is going good, it is not always easy to distinguish the true character of a person. When times are good, everyone appears to be thriving. It is the dark days and cold winds of winter that reveal the true character. Difficulties, adversities, and tragedies blow upon us like the icy winter winds. Many times, when difficult times come, people lose their spirit just like the trees lose their leaves. There are a few, however, who thrive during difficult times, who keep up their spirits in spite of their problems. What is their secret? How do they do it?

My Hero

Let me tell you about my hero. My hero is my aunt. She was never famous, wealthy, or beautiful. By most accounts, her life was unspectacular. She was poor. She experienced personal failure-her first husband divorced her. When she was in her late fifties she came down with a debilitating disease in her digestive track. A few years later she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. My family traveled to visit her a couple times during the last years of her life. Despite being in immense pain (without the aid of pain-killers) she was always bright and cheerful. Her outlook was positive in spite of the twin diseases which were ravaging her body.

I can remember the last time I saw her alive. After traveling all day we walked into her trailer and she greeted us with a hug. She was just weeks away from death. The disease had taken a fearful toll on her body. Her eyes were sunken, her flesh hung loosely upon her arms. She was frail and weak. It was a struggle for her just to come to the door. As we sat down on the sofa to talk, she inquired as to whether we had eaten supper. That was just the way she was. She was always concerned about the needs of others. When she found out we had not eaten, she got up and went to the kitchen to fix us supper. We tried to talk her out of it, but she would not listen to us. As I watched her in the kitchen, frail and weak, her body racked with pain, I realized that she had something that I did not have. It would have been so easy for her to lay on the couch and ask others to serve her. It would have been so easy for her to have given up in hopelessness and despair. When the dark days and cold winds of winter came, she did not die. She thrived until the day she went to sleep for the last time.

How did she thrive in tragedy?

If you asked her how she did it, how she kept her spirits so high in the midst of such tragedy, I know that she would not point to herself. She hardly ever talked much about herself. She did have someone in her life that she loved to talk about. She had a faithful friend who stuck by her side. He was not a new friend. She had known him all her life. When life went sour, when things did not turn out as planned, her friend was there to inspire her with the purpose and meaning of her life. When the dark days of winter came, her friend was by her side to brighten her life. When the cold winds of winter blew, her friend was their to warm and comfort her.

Some people know about God. Some people know God. There is a big difference. My aunt knew God. He was not some distant, unreachable figure, somewhere far away guiding the affairs of the universe. He was as close as a heart-beat, living inside her heart. He was not a casual acquaintance. He was her Best Friend. As the time for her parting grew nearer, she seemed to become happier. Why? Because she knew that soon she was going to see the Friend that she loved so dearly. She longed to see Him. He was all the world to her. He was her Forever Friend. And that friendship made all the difference in her life. That friendship allowed her to thrive in the midst of pain, disappointment, and failure.

She was poor. She did not have enough money for a funeral. I remember the day a small group of teary-eyed family members gathered together at the grave of her father to bury her ashes. As I knelt upon the ground beside that grave I thought about her life. What was the legacy of this woman? As far as possessions go, she had little to leave for her children. Most people would look at her life and see only failure. What few people ever manage to grasp is that success in life is not measured in attainments. My aunt may not have realized it, but she left behind something more valuable than all the gold in the world. She left behind an example of how to thrive in tough times. Her life is a shining example of how to walk hand-in-hand in a forever friendship with God. What greater gift could she have given to the world? What greater success can there be than living a life worthy for others to follow in your footsteps? The priceless gift this woman left for the world was her life of self-sacrificing love. Her legacy is a shining path to guide all those who would come after.

Thank-you, aunt Ginnie. Thank-you.