Have you heard of the term, The Greatest Generation?  Tom Brokaw coined the phrase, “The Greatest Generation” in his book of the same name referring to the generation was born in the first two and half decades of the 20^th century.  Brokaw wrote in his book, “it is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced.”  He argued that “these men and women fought not for fame and recognition, but because it was the right thing to do. When they came back they rebuilt America into a superpower.”

This generation’s impact was not only felt in our society, it was felt within our families.  These have been the patriarchs and matriarchs of our families and now they are moving on.  Last week, my family said “goodbye” to the last of our own members of the Greatest Generation – Kristal’s beloved maternal grandmother, Grandma Mim.

Mildred “Mim” Yeager was born on July 1, 1917 to Nels and Marna Hoagland on a farm in Western Nebraska.  Nels Hoagland was a successful Swedish immigrant homesteading on the frontier married to Marna Johnson who was a second generation American also of Swedish immigrant parents.  Mim experienced that typical life journey Tom Brokaw described in The Greatest Generation.  Growing up during the Great Depression, supporting family members serving in various branches of the service during the war and doing her part in the “bread basket to the world” to build America into a modern Super Power – Mim was in many ways typical of the women of her generation.

However for her family, she was anything but typical.  As the last surviving Grandparent on both sides of our family, she was truly the matriarch of our family.  From that position she continued to influence our entire family in her own special way.  Mim was never the kind of women that would exert influence forcefully or often even directly.  She preferred to affect people in a kind and gentle way that left you encouraged and feeling better.  She lived the motto that “if you don’t have something good to say, don’t say anything at all.”  Fortunately for us, she frequently had good things to say.

If I were to try to sum up the kind of woman Mim was, I would simply quote this piece of beauty advice from I Peter 3:3-4:

Don’t depend on things like fancy hairdos or gold jewelry or expensive clothes to make you look beautiful. Be beautiful in your heart by being gentle and quiet. This kind of beauty will last, and God considers it very special.

Mim was beautiful on the outside, but even more she was beautiful in her heart by nature of her quiet and gentle spirit.  God considers this kind of lasting beauty to be “very special” and we have to agree.  She was and still is very special.  I can’t wait to see her again in heaven – this time in the perfection of her eternal body – beautiful inside and out.

For those of us remaining, there is a call to action embedded in the loss of this generation.  Into that void we must step and provide the same kind of courageous leadership they displayed within our society and within our individual families.  All of us Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and even the up-and-coming Mosaic/Millennials have an obligation to follow in their footsteps and take on the challenges of our age with courage and vision.  Courageous leadership is their legacy to us and we have an obligation to extend that legacy to future generations or risk seeing everything they helped build fall into disarray.  We have walked  hand-in-hand with The Greatest Generation to this point, but now the challenge is for us to continue life’s journey with their examples and our fond memories to sustain us.

Until next week,

Meet me at the intersection!

Copyright © 2012 Michael Willoughby. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to author and/or owner with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100

When is the last time someone went out of their way to do something special for you simply because they loved you?  Perhaps this person cooked you a special meal, took over some of your household chores when your schedule was a mess or helped you with an especially challenging task.  How did you feel when that special person served you without any expectation for compensation?  If your heart was truly touched by their gift, you may speak the love language of “acts of service.”

Acts of service were covered earlier this year in the Relationship Matters series so those thoughts won’t be repeated here.  Instead let’s follow the path set with last week’s article and look at an illustration of this love language in action by Jesus.  Read the following passage from John 13:1-7 thinking about the statement in the first sentence that Jesus “loved his own” and “loved them to the end.”

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

Feet-washing was a common act of service in first century Palestine most often performed by a member of the household staff.  If a servant was not available to perform the service, the feet of dinner guests could go unwashed unless someone volunteered.  Volunteering for feet-washing would communicate in a very tangible way the station in life of the feet-washer compared to those being served.  Apparently none of the disciples had volunteered to perform the service perhaps out of a sense of entitlement.  There had been consistent friction within the group concerning the pecking order so it is likely that none were willing to “lower themselves” to take care of the chore.  The result was stinky feet at a dinner table where the participants reclined head to feet around the table.  Yuck!

Jesus promised Peter he would understand the lesson in the future and he begins with this explanation in verses 12-17.

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?  You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.  If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

This lesson was for Peter and also for each of us.  If Jesus was willing to step down and serve then what excuse do we possibly have?  With this powerful illustration, Jesus was showing these disciples and the rest of us how deeply “he loved them to the end.”  He told them he expected them to love each other to the end and show it with their actions based on his example.  He expects the same from us.

We may not have the need to literally wash feet in the 21st century but figuratively we have the same opportunity to express love to one another in this way.  It’s especially meaningful to someone who speaks the primary love language of acts of service.  Sometimes being the hands and feet of Jesus requires us to take that responsibility seriously and decide to figuratively reach out and wash some feet.

Until next week,

Meet me at the intersection!

Copyright © 2011 Michael Willoughby. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to author and/or owner with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.