The Kingdom Work of Motherhood

The Indy Star recently ran this article in memory of a Elizabeth Gore. I have included about half of it here.

Elizabeth Gore didn't spend too much time worrying about the world. For her, family and church were more than enough to keep her busy. "Family or God or maybe God and family" -- that was Mrs. Gore, John Gore said of his mother, who died Jan. 24.

Mrs. Gore, 87, who moved here from Tompkinsville, Ky., with her family as a young child, had been a member of Allen Chapel AME Church for 82 years. "She was really a child of God," Gore said.

She also volunteered for the Little Red Door Cancer Agency, helping patients, and Meals on Wheels of Greater Indianapolis but stood ready to offer a hand to anyone who needed it.

Gore recalled how his mother and father, Nathan Gore, looked after a cousin who was 100 years old. The couple had a black van, and a grandson once remarked that his grandparents picked up so many people that they ought to paint it yellow to look like a school bus, Gore said.

Long before latchkey kids became a common way of describing children who came home from school to an empty house, Mrs. Gore had decided raising her children was the most important work she could do.

During her children's school years, they could count on finding their mother at home when they got out of school. She listened to her children's stories about their day and whatever problems they thought they were having, he recalled. "She'd always sit down and talk to us."

In some regards this story seems like something of the past that will not be duplicated again. Being a member of one church for 82 years is amazing! Some will barely make even an eighth of that in this day of marketing the church. The other amazing feat of this lady was that her most significant contribution to society was raising her family. I know that there are women who still find their greatest significance caring for their family. I hope this is an encouragement to them to not get caught in the trap of thinking they are not being productive in society or selling themselves short. Much of what Mrs. Gore did seems to echo Proverbs 31. We need more women in our society to sacrifice of themselves this way, and we need to be thankful for those that are. As I read this article I was brought to a greater appreciation of my own mother's care and renewed in my appreciation for what my wife is doing in caring for our family. It is kingdom work that often goes unnoticed.