My Aunt Ann

Today, December 9, marks the 5 year anniversary of my Aunt Ann went to be with the Lord.  It is a fitting day to reflect on her legacy to me.  

Granted I have remembrances of her filling my house.  From the first quilt I made with her help.  And before that, the first pillow I made as a child at her house.

Books on my book shelf were given to me by my Aunt Ann or I talked about with her.

In my kitchen, my prettiest cookbook was a book I got one Christmas from her.

My craft room is filled with her fabric.

My newest quilt is a rag quilt made with her fabric- a rag quilt I love because of the colors, because it is my new summer/fall quilt, and because it reminds me of Aunt Ann.

But the tangible items in my house are just a small fraction of the influence of Aunt Ann on my life. For all of teen years, she and her husband lead a kids' bible study where we dug into the Word of God. (As an adult, I am overwhelmed at this sacrifice of time. I get that if done in love it isn't a sacrifice.  But still it really is.) As I look back on those years and even years before that as a younger kid, Aunt Ann was a consistent part of my life.  I said memory verses to her at Sunday School; she came to my middle school concerts; she did bible study; she taught me how to use makeup; beaches in the summer often included her; she was just there.  I told my mom the other day that, as I stopped taking a medication, that I could hear Aunt Ann in my head saying that was a good idea as she thought it was harmful.  I remember conversations with her and mom and other women on the beach just talking about living life- godly women seeking to be godly and indirectly being an example to big pitcher ears.  As a young adult living next door to her, I spent alot of time talking recipes and books and quilts but also about life and living it godly- conversations I wish we could have today.

She was an example of being a godly woman in word and deed.  She invested in me. And I am the better for it.  Like her, I do not have children.  Just as she left her own legacy to me, I want to leave my own legacy for the children in my lives.   Because of her, I am motivated to intentionally be a part of the kids placed in my lives (and there are a lot of them!)

As I reflect on the influence of Aunt Ann in my life, I thank God for her and the precious years I had with her.  May it be said of me one day of what I can say of her: that Aunt Ann lived out Micah 6:8.

He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God Micah 6:8