The Top Drawer

A Fourth Day article.

I was sitting in the lounge when Pat came in to eat. "I heard that you were involved with Cursillo", I said as she walked by. "Why yes", she responded with delight on her face, and the conversation began. Another 20 minutes went by without notice. We spent the time with me reminiscing about my mother and her love for Cursillo. "This would be a great story for the news letter." We set up a time to meet and parted for the day. That evening I thought about the years and how I could condense all of the memories into a concise story.

It had been six months and I hadn't opened any of the drawers since my husband and I brought the dresser home and placed it in the living room. Even though we could use the extra storage space, the only purpose for the dresser at the moment was to house all of her memorabilia.

When I began to go through the all of the stuff I found it quite easy to collect things that would define exactly who mom was. The first thing pulled was her Cursillo shirt. Covered with Christian buttons, a large colorful painted rooster across the back, stitched butterflies and rainbows, and the pockets full of small encouraging notes from friends. I added to the collection her hand carved wooded cross, a pin that said, "your mistletoe or mine", a battery operated necklace of blinking Christmas lights and the glow in the dark "boo" glasses that she wore at Halloween.

Mom was a hard working, out spoken woman who held a strong but private love for the Lord. She was not the typical Christian with a fish on the bumper of her car and sweet, gentle words of inspiration. Instead it was a bumper sticker stating, "Drive now & talk later" and no holds barred opinions. She had a tremendous since of humor that even caught me red in the face at times and a true spirit of adventure. Tradition, etiquette and "because I said so" describe the everyday person she was, but her relationship with God and His son Jesus were the foundation on which she thrived. Getting to know this core truth about mom was not accomplished in casual conversation and therefore not often known. Growing up, Sundays were spent in a beautiful formal church atmosphere. The altar was adorned with elegant flower arrangements and brass candle sticks. The attire consisted of crisp suits and conservative dresses. Grins along with the occasional nod constituted official greetings when finding your seat. Mom took church very seriously and I often got "the look" for displaying humor during any part of the service.

On the surface you knew about her growing up as a tomboy from South Carolina (Columbia, Union and Charleston) maturing into a beautiful Cotillion debutant and attending Winthrop College. However, unbeknownst to most was the fact that life had always been tough for mom. She lost both parents at young ages resulting in premature parental responsibilities to her brothers. Attempting to find a sense of normalcy she fell in love with and married who she thought was the man of her dreams. Dropping out of college to start a family later ended up in a severely tumultuous marriage stricken with adultery, alcohol, verbal and physical abuse. Every attempt of salvaging the sense of "family" was exhausted and divorce was unsurmountable. The years followed with her asthma, emphysema and arthritis becoming debilitating. The time had come to move into an assisted living facility. At age 64 she was the "young chick" on the block and made the best of it. Knowing these things and the fact that she always had the strength to overcome adversity made mom the mentor of many. Only 2 months after moving in mom went home to be with Jesus and our awesome loving Father. How do I know this? Because He, yes the Lord, told me so. The night she died I went from literally physically hurting with sadness to complete peace. She had been sick for a couple of weeks but led everyone to believe that it "was just a cold". She fell asleep sitting in a chair watching TV and never woke up. The Lord told me that night, "I ended her suffering and she is with me". "She was my best friend" was repeated multiple times by those who approached to give their respects at the funeral. Mom ended up winning the ultimate victory after all the tough years and it's all because she grew to love the Lord.

The early 1980's was a time of great heartache with the divorce, but also the time when the Lord decided to completely take over mom's life. He knew the first impression had to be a powerful one to win her over. In 1982 mom was sponsored to attend Cursillo by a girlfriend. "I can't tell you anything about it, you are just gonna have to trust me on this one and go." Mom went and returned a completely different person. She spent the next several years passionately involved with attending reunions and Ultreya, assisting with Agape feasts, assisting table leaders, becoming a team leader, making palanca bags and (@ least 300) placemats and eventually giving talks. The woman who was so serious in church had finally found out just how exciting God can be! My mom was probably the one peaking in the window just to see the facial expressions of those surprised by the magnificent Agape feast. Words like "spiritual awakening", "spiritual renewal", "spiritual food", and "spiritual freedom" were now part of mom's vocabulary. After spending the past twenty years hearing just how selfish, judgmental and foolish being religious was, she was finally free and LOVED. She began to sponsor others and even carryover the palanca idea to other activities such as our own family reunion.

Her funeral was magical and definitely filled with the Holy Spirit. It is hard to fathom feeling peace, joy, sadness, adoration and grief all at the same time. A guitar accompanied the organ in her small formal church with songs of praise and worship. Hands were raised up and tears were flowing.

A paper bag was left at the church that was filled with wonderful notes of encouragement, drawings, and inspiration. It was meant for mom but she died before they were able to get it to her.

God will work through those who will be obedient to Him and willing to carry the cross. The burden will be heavy at times and Satan will attempt to destroy all that is good. Cursillo no longer formally exists in the southwestern region of Virginia, and it saddens me to know that there are still so many hearts out there to be won for the Lord. I pray that the Holy Spirit once again can dance and sing out loud.

Elizabeth Weikel
Christ Church Greenville

1115 Marion Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29201 | 803-771-7800