Remembering Aunt Alice

Those of you who read this column regularly know that each year I select a verse of scripture that I focus on for the entire year. In 2006 it was Ecclesiastes 3:1; this year’s verse is 2 Corinthians 5:1;
In December of 2006, when I making my final thoughts about which verse, I really didn’t have any clear cut motivation for this year’s verse, other then it is a verse I have never really spent large amounts of time with before. My studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, provided me with enough basics to understand the context of the verse, in that it was dealing with eternal life, but there is so much more I am discovering then just that basic thought.
On July 2, 2007, my father’s younger sister, Alice Marie Shelton, passed into eternal life. She was born and raised on Stinking Creek and while she spent her adult life living in Franklin, Ohio, she never forgot where her earthly home was, in the heart of Stinking Creek on Acorn Fork. Aunt Alice and my Uncle John worked and raised their children, Dana and Joey, there in Ohio, but Aunt Alice never forgot where her earthly home was, who her “people” were and even more special what it was that has made us the family we are and what we believe.
I am most proud of my family’s heritage, the simple people we are, the basic foundations and beliefs we cherish, and while I love to tell our family stories about where we came from in North Carolina, the crossing of the Cumberland Gap, and where are individual names come from and the stories behind them. I do however, cherish most, the learning of our spiritual buildings, that part of this year’s scripture that talks about our Heavenly Home when this life has run her course and the stories behind how folks press on when things are not quite as they had planned or hoped for.
Aunt Alice spend many years dealing with health issues that often times prevented her from doing what she would like to do or even felt called to do as a wife, mother, sister, aunt, friend, grandmother and even newly announced great-grandmother. Yet, with limitations she still was able to touch and impact so many lives. The Apostle Paul said that one should strive to learn to be content in ‘whatever state’ and she did. She never stopped talking about what she was going to do, or was thinking about doing. She never stopped loving her ‘people’ and talking about who her folks were and just listening at her recollections you could hear the love and excitement as she would talk about the family, her mom and dad, her brother and sisters, her children and even those of us who bore the title of nephew or niece.
Back several years ago she spent a period of time living with my parents and I became so rich in my personal life because of this opportunity to learn from her directly about her childhood days, and more especially the time she spent learning to recognize God’s voice and His call on her heart to follow Him.
The biggest mistake I hear so many make in life is evaluating people’s spiritual journeys based upon our own experiences. While often our personal experiences are of great value, as Aunt Alice’s sharing with me has been, the caution must be in our spiritual walk that we allow each to follow the scriptures in working out their own salvation, and trusting that God does do all things well in His time, which His word so clearly states.
Aunt Alice you were a blessing not just to me, but to Bridget and Jim Jr too, and your faith and ours will guide each of us gently, safely over.Until then