Who Had the Big Influence?

Who knew?    What would stand out as the most impact of one person, between my 15th and 70th year?  By now, it is an annual story, a sort of New Year's review of how I got where I am.

For understanding the place of influence, it would have to be Mrs. Hawes and the gift.

Mrs. Hawes lived in the South Liberty oil field, IN the field in a shack made of scrap wood, covered with tar-paper.  Her cooking and heat was from a pipe that ran directly from a well, just the throw-away gas, salvaged.  Water from a faucet somewhere, but she was the definition of poor.

She gathered pecans that year, all along the Trinity River bottoms, and took them up to the highway that ran to Houston, selling on the roadside.  But for the last week, she'd been home, her dentures broken.   She was getting money together to get them fixed.  My dad went to visit her on Monday, and came home to tell the story of her gift.

When he came into her house, she apologized for missing, specially because it was Mission Sunday, and she always gave a gift for missions.  She handed him $5:  "This is mine, so thanks for taking it and putting it with the others."

"But, Mrs. Hawes, you're getting money together to fix your teeth!"

"That will come along, but this was Mission Sunday.  I just don't miss that!"  Nothing would do but for Dad to take her gift.

He knew how poor she was.  He knew that was pecan money, planned for denture repair.

Plain, simple, unmistakeable, generous, focused, exactly the attitude Jesus told us to have every day.  But rarely seen.  We give out of our surplus, after the needs are met.  Mrs. Hawes didn't do it that way.

It's been 56 years since that moment, but every time there's an offering destined for mission work, that sweet lady's face comes to mind.  I've known missionary families, been a type of missionary, studied all the maps and charts and history.  But the persuasive moment that is always fresh is Mrs. Hawes.

I've known a life-time full of people who motivated me:  Professors, family members, musicians, work companions and peers, leaders in and out of churches.  But none of them have had the lasting single-moment influence of Mrs. Hawes.

All of us find our highest motivation for performance, accomplishment, academic achievement, whatever, from something just like that.  And if it  has a name and a face, we are blessed by it.

Thank God for His disciples who reflect His Word and will.  I do believe He speaks through them.