My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you,
ask what you can do for your country.   – John F. Kennedy

Memorial Day – a day when we remember and honor those who have helped our country and those who have given their lives to make the world a safer and better place for us. It’s also a day when we remember and honor the people who helped us to grow, who sacrificed themselves so that our world would be a safer and better place to live.

The people who helped me grow the most were my parents. They sacrificed a lot for me and my sister Shirley. This Memorial Day I thought especially about my mother Alma Johanna Weilage Haupt – the amazing woman who was “mommy” to my sister Shirley and me. Born in 1906 on a farm in Nebraska, she was a strong, compassionate woman, who tenderly cared for the environment long before it was popular or known to be important for our survival. She saved dishpan water and recycled it for watering the garden or flushing the toilet. She washed out plastic bags, hanging them on the line to dry, so they could be used again. She always grew perennial flowers and divided and spread them all over our gardens – and we had lots of them. She started our vegetable plants from seeds.

But mother also loved beauty and found it in all things. She made attractive clothes for Shirley and me – from my aunt’s hand-me-down dresses, even from pastel flour sacks. I never saw mother wearing a “house dress” in her 96 years of life. She took care of her face and hair – even when she went to the fields to drive the tractor. My dad was so proud to have this lovely woman by his side, and he treated her like his queen until the day she died three years before he did.

On this past Memorial Day, I remembered my mother as a woman of prayer. If someone was dying or sick or in some kind of trouble, they knew to call my mother and put their name on her prayer list. She spent a lot of time talking and listening to God. When Shirley and I were growing up as little girls on our Nebraska farm, our family prayed on our knees after supper for what felt like a very long time. I remember from time to time that I would lay my head on the kitchen chair in front of me and actually fall asleep. Then I would hear my mother ask, “Joy, are you awake? God wants you to pay attention and listen.”

So on Memorial Day, I said thanks to God for these special memories of my remarkable mother, the environmentalist, the woman who appreciated beauty, and the woman of prayer.

Some questions to ponder as we look back at Memorial Day:

• Who are the people we remember on Memorial Day?
• How do we honor their special memory?
• How might we be remembered someday for what we have contributed to the universe?

Thank you, God, for Memorial Day, when we can stop to think about the many people who have helped to make our world a better place. We give thanks especially for the people who have touched our lives and helped us to grow. Now as my mother would remind us, let us remember to stay awake and listen to you. Amen. 

Joy Carol
www.joycarol.com