Living with Margin

On Saturday we will be celebrating the life of my Aunt Ruth. Alzheimer’s kept her from living alone after my uncle passed, and so she moved into our home and those months were a huge blessing to me. She was a simple and lovely soul and even with her mind failing, she still taught me a better way to live.

Prior to coming to my house Aunt Ruth had lost weight and her clothes hung on her. She refused to buy new ones because all she really needed was to wear a belt! The collars of her shirts were showing a great deal of wear, but they had served her well for decades and there was nothing wrong with them that a hot iron couldn’t remedy! All of their important papers could be found in the small metal box on the shelf in the closet. Her kitchen was never cluttered, because she kept only the bare necessities. Every time she would open my refrigerator she would announce, “I need to do something about this mess!” I obviously had more in there than I needed. In her fridge, you could easily see and identify every item at all times. Ketsup, Mustard, Mayo, Sprite, Butter, Bologna, Black Raspberry Jam and whatever meat she planned to fix for supper. I would have more than that in one cubic foot!

Her small and simple life had a huge impact on so many people. She had no worries about what to eat. She kept it simple. She had no worries about what to wear. That was simple, too! Never a pile of laundry to do, because they didn’t have enough clothes between them to fill a washer more than once a week. The house was always tidy and the lawn was immaculate. They always had what they needed and they always, ALWAYS had enough to help any of us who might need it.

Aunt Ruth was 92 years old when she woke up in heaven. It comforts me to believe that Uncle Tom was there waiting to greet her, but I don’t really know how that works. They had spent many years together in the cab of a North American Van Lines Semi zig-zagging across the United States. For as far back as I can remember they did everything together. They were a team and they were devoted to each other and to God and to His Church.

Sunday, when Pastor Chris spoke about the Biblical teaching of living our lives with margin, I couldn’t help but think of Aunt Ruth and Uncle Tom. They left no estate behind. They never owed marvelous things. They didn’t travel the world. In our culture, their lives would appear small and insignificant.  But if you take into consideration the huge margin around them, their lives were huge and they left a HUGE imprint on so many of us.

What I have learned from them is that if I keep acquiring more things, my house will not be as tidy as I want it to be. If I buy more clothes, my closets will be unmanageable. If I buy more food than we will eat in the next several days, I won’t be able to find it until it rots in the back of the fridge and alerts me to its presence. If I spend more money on what I don’t really need, I will have less to share with others. If I keep my calendar full, I won’t have the availability that they always seemed to have.

Rest in peace, Aunt Ruth. And thank you for teaching me the valuable life lessons about living smaller so I can give bigger.