One of my favorite photos of Mama Sisson because it captures her cheerful childlikeness.
One of my favorite photos of Mother---one of these is not like the others! Mother earned her law degree and became an attorney in 1972 just 5 1/2 months before I was born in 1973. This is the Cleburne County Bar Association. Date unknown. Probably 1974?
My grandmother was a Pray-er. My mother was a Do-er. My grandmother was also very much a do-er and my mother was also very much a pray-er, because truly, praying and doing go hand in hand, and they both lived out that truth for all the years I walked with them. But if I had to mark them, I would mark my grandmother, Mama Sisson, by PRAYER and I would mark Mother, Evelyn, by ACTION.
Mama Sisson was rhythmic and patterned. She went about her days like clockwork. She was steadfast, moving from one domestic enterprise to the other, including us all along the way. She loved Children most of all, and she made that known to everyone by saying so, and to us by the way she cared for us and included us in everything. She very intentionally poured every bit of her life into us. We were her ministry. And we knew it. She was not spoiling and indulging us. She was training us. She was always singing or humming, and always praying. Mama Sisson believed in getting down on her knees to pray, and she did that every morning and every night, and sometimes in between. She trusted our Heavenly Father and she pointed us to Him. Sweet Hour of Prayer, appropriately, was her favorite hymn.
Mother was an Enthusiast! She lived life, as I say, like an exclamation mark! She was always as Longfellow says, "up and doing, with a heart for any fate!" and she infused that into me. Mama Sisson loved children most of all, and I would say Mother loved people most of all. She loved others. Near and far, and here and there and everywhere. She loved people! She would do, do, do, and give, give, give....to her delight! It was her JOY to serve and lead others! Mother wasn't simply involved--she was leading the charge!
Mother was entrepreneurial and innovative. She was a campaigner and an organizer of new ideas. She loved America and she loved Missions. Onward & upward was her m.o. When it was apparent to us that her days on earth were drawing to a close, I forced myself to ask her, "What do we do if you don't make it?" Without a moment's hesitation, she threw back her head, raised her hand to point upward and cried out in her typical cheerful and triumphant voice, "Carry On!"
And so here I am. Carrying on! From Mama Sisson and Mother comes everything that God does through me. A vision for Children, America, Missions, Prayer......Day And Night In Every Language. Covering in prayer--the action that partners with the prayers!
