Steppin’ with the Gray-haired Ladies

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers, grandmothers, aunts and to those of you who fill in when a mom isn’t present. You have the most important role in the world.

That said, I’d like to ponder why I am almost always out of step with other women of my generation. Seriously, my life is a little like the step class I took at the YMCA several years ago, when I was always an embarrassing half step off.

Way back when other women were out burning bras and demanding rights, I was a stay-at-home mom with gangs of preschoolers stopping by the kitchen for cookies. Yes, my world looked much different than Gloria Steinem’s.

And I was too busy to worry about rights. There were skinned knees to bandage and Tough Skin jeans to return to the store. Does anyone remember when Sears guaranteed those jeans would never wear through the knees? Ha, ha. Whoever designed them didn’t have boys that played on the carpet, in the sandbox or on the school playground. Those holey knees were also linked to my most frequent words: “Ouch! Didn’t I tell you to pick up the Legos?”

Anyway, the gray-haired ladies in my life were a bigger influence on me than anyone in the women’s movement. They helped me through a long stretch of time, including the three-year period when my mother and sisters died. These seasoned women weren’t trying to break the glass ceiling. Instead, they went beyond the popcorn ceiling to the throne of God with their actions and prayers, and they invited me along.

Their love and kindness nurtured this prairie girl. Flora and Lucille, Cary Lou and Sister Susan. And dear Elenor, a Bible study leader who was in her 70s. Every day she still did pushups and prayed for all the girls who had attended her classes through the years; and there were a lot of us. She was a great role model. They all were with their encouragement, wisdom, true life stories, and Godly examples.

These gray-haired ladies lived out a counterculture right in the heart of the women’s movement. Successful in their own right, they made my life richer because they lived fully in the life God gave them. They influenced me and many other “girls” to do the same.

They believed that God has a higher call on our lives. That we are special. Who we are does matter in a world caught up in media blitz, Hollywood bling and me-first philosophy.

There were many graduates of the gray-haired ladies’ training. We might all have been a little out of step with the times, but looking back, it’s easy to see that their quiet influence is still having an impact in the families of the “girls” they mentored, who are still living for God, who have found a new way of life.

Even today, I’m still steppin’ to their influence. That’s one reason for the past year I’ve been putting finishing touches on the story of one of the most resilient gray-haired women I have ever known. I can’t wait to announce that Secrets of the Dark Closet is available, probably sometime this summer.

So, this Mother’s Day tribute is to those gray-haired women, every one of them now passed on. You still inspire me.

And hugs to all the readers out there. Have a Happy Mother’s Day. Be proactive—treat yourself to something special.

There are still gray-haired ladies around us. To find them, look for a women’s Bible study at a local church or join a women’s fellowship group, such as Christian Women’s Club or Women’s Aglow. Women’s retreats and conferences are also a cool way to nurture your soul. Be a gray-haired lady (hair color optional) and take a friend. 

“Each time we cooperate with God, we take one more giant step forward. Because when God asks us to change, it means that He always has something better to give us – more freedom, greater joy, greater blessings.” Joyce Meyer, author of 41 books including Battlefield of the Mind