In celebration of Women's History Month

When you get to heaven who are some of the first people you are going to look for? … and why? Are any of them women? Famous or familiar? This is Women’s History Month. The women of our lives – those who had a direct hand in shaping us, as well as those who changed the course of history – are all too often taken for granted. They waltz through life, touching our souls at the deepest levels and simply are taken for granted.

I’ve lived most of life in a house of women … even the dog was female. Now I sit back and marvel at the dynamic young women my two daughters have become. One is a mother to two amazing children (after all they are my grandchildren), but I am pleasantly surprised (not really sure why, but I am) as to the kind of mother she is - patient, caring, loving, self-sacrificing. They other daughter is hard working with a passion for doing a good job. Both of my daughters are on my list of sheros.

Then you have my spouse of 45 years – a testimony to her forgiving spirit because a lesser individual would have taken me, a long time ago, to the tallest mountain and simply pushed me off telling God that I slipped. But, there she is stilling walking beside me, dealing with my twisted and stubborn personality … and still loving me regardless … maybe that is where my daughters got their caring spirit. My spouse is also on my sheros list.

I have others still living that are on my sheros list – one is a fantastic mother and a great host as she and her husband host an annual party at their lake house every year … she is just like her parents. Then there is a person with a PhD – smart just like her daddy and mother – and hopefully one day she will author a book that I have suggested. Just two individuals, among thousands, of sheros that have been brought into my life over the years that are influencing and helping to shape others.

The individuals that I particularly desire to talk with when I get to heaven are Mother Theresa, Joan of Arc, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Florence Nightingale, and Helen Keller to mention just a few. My actual list is long and quite varied.

But the greatest sheros are individuals that neither you nor I would know. There are so many individuals of the female persuasion that influenced, shaped, guided, and directed our lives – individuals whose names and images will never be known to us. Their names and history will never be recorded in any history books. And, in most cases, they went to their graves without any recognition or words of thanks … and yet they were there making a impression on us and we didn’t even know it.

Too all those women – famous and not so famous – thank you for your investment in this old preacher and what you did for the people who came in contact with you. You deposited a little bit of your spirit and personality in our lives and we have never been the same since. You are our sheros! Thank you for being!

Quote for today: A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer. ~R.W. Emerson – I’m sure that Mr. Emerson would have used inclusive language if he were writing today.