Remembering my Mother

Who is My Mother- Jean Olwyn Morris – 3rd February 1930 – 4th September 2014

She was many things - To her parents, Robert Archibald and Frances Emily Deans, she was a loving daughter, the youngest of three surviving children. To my father she was his wife, partner and helpmate. It seemed to me that She was the calm in his vigour, his reality check for his expectations and a quiet voice for his loud one. To us, her children, she was a wonderful mother. To the three eldest, as a Salvation Army Officer, she was a working mother even if we didn’t realise it. This was at a time when working mums didn’t have the celebrity status they have now. The youngest two having her as a stay-at-home mum for most of their childhoods.

To the many grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchild, she was their champion and cheer squad. Oh how she prayed for them, listened to them, treasured their achievements and tried to encourage them in a walk for the Lord. To her God and heavenly father, she was His precious child and faithful servant.

In the 1930’s, there was not the wealth of medical and lifestyle knowledge that is available now. So on Monday the 3rd of February 1930, when Frances Emily Deans gave birth to a second daughter, things didn’t go smoothly. The doctors, knowing that she had two small children at home who needed a mother more than she needed a new baby, set about the job of making sure that Ron and Joan had a mother to look after them. My mother set about making sure that they had a little sister to annoy them, as little sisters do.

My mother is not what I would consider a fighter. She was a doer. If there was a verse in the bible that my mother lived by it was this one, James 1:22a “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,” If there was a job to be done, she did it but it had to be done quietly, correctly, properly, honestly, carefully and finished in sickness or health. Mum didn’t enjoy very good health until she was into her 40’s when the range of vitamins and minerals, particularly iron, became more widely available. These did enable her to enjoy much better health for the rest of her life.

Over more than 30 years of my marriage we would try and talk on the phone at least once a week, if not two, three or even four times depending on how many crises I was dealing with at a time. She was my sounding board, listening to all my worries and fears, always responding with loving concern that God’s will would be of upmost importance in her life and mine. We would cover many other subjects such as Church, state and federal politics, world and family history but mostly we talked about the Word of God and how it applied to our lives.

When I started writing articles for the church newssheet in July 2011, she happily became my proof-reader, grammar teacher and theological advisor for every story that ended up in my first book Turning Water into Wine. When we discussed my very few visits to Gympie she told me “You know that I am going to Heaven, I will be waiting there and when you come I will welcome you with open arms” and I have no reason to doubt this.

I wrote this poem many years ago and in many ways it describes my mother, not only to me but to the wider community as well.

It’s called: “A Special Gift”

Before time began

God decided

That I needed

A very special gift.

That special gift was:

A teacher,

A counsellor,

And my very best friend.

And best of all,

That gift;

Came wrapped in a package,

Labelled “Mother”

It will be the little things that she did that we will most likely miss the most: that card that she sent every year on your birthday either as Mum, (you were not an in-law to my mum) grandma, great grandma, great great grandma, sister, Aunty Jean or just a friend. The listening ear on the telephone, the cups of tea, that meal that she put together, the letters she wrote or her welcoming smile as she opened the door of their home.

As we continue our journey in this life without her, I know that all of us will remember her and the impact that she has had on our lives and we honour her best by following her example of being that faithful servant of Jesus Christ that she was.

As I finish I hope you will forgive the adjustment of this quote from Matthew 25:21 “Her Lord said unto her, Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Amen.