And speaking of their living room, it was lived in. It was always clean and comfortable, yet authentic and real. There were piles of papers and journals in and around the seating areas. In later years, “The Remote” found its place of prominence among the seating areas as well but there was always room for one more person who would happen to drop by. My bride speaks with great endearment of their first house and how every room in that house held similar characteristics. The small, crowded kitchen, the dining room, the basement, the upstairs bedrooms all  hold a special place in the lore of the family but when Roger and Wilma moved to a newer, Ranch style house to make moving about a little easier on aging knees, I noticed that the same atmosphere magically morphed into that house too.

South Dakota, where my favorite lived for the majority of her days can bring some of the harshest living conditions on the planet. Temperatures can range from 105 degrees above to 32 degrees below zero. The wind blows most days and sometimes gust upwards of 50 mph. Layers of clothes are required to keep warm in the winter and not surprisingly, Wilma had multiple layers of clothes for her family. Hats, gloves, boots, coveralls, pants, were all present for her family and the washer stood by on the first level to make sure everything was clean and presentable.

Few places on earth provide the sense of security experienced by the masterpiece that Wilma created. Wilma and Roger were safe. Truth was always the guiding principle but one could explore any circumstance of life as it related to that truth – no matter how difficult. They were far enough removed from the hustle and bustle that no one but God Himself, could find you. And that was the ultimately the point. The circumstances of life, wrestled with within the safe confines of Wilma’s masterpiece ultimately found their resolution, or at least direction, in the person of Jesus Christ. Walking by faith and trusting in His ever-present loving arms brought the safety people needed to struggle with the harsh realities of sin and the life giving oxygen of God’s grace.

My Favorite Mother-In-Law succeeded in crafting a masterpiece that few others in our culture today succeed. Wilma’s masterpiece, her magnum opus if you haven’t figured it out yet, was HOME. A place where one is accepted unconditionally, loved and cared for passionately, and always encouraged to grow beyond what they currently look like today.

Now, while most men make jokes or complain about their mothers-in-law, I have the honor of saying I am not among them. I have the rare privilege to admit that my life is far richer because of the life she lived and I’m heartbroken that this special place, which was never a place at all, but a person, has left us and has traveled to her ultimate HOME – Her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But this story doesn’t end here as a dark rain cloud. This story, I’m happy to say, has a silver lining. A silver lining in that I had the privilege to have married one of Wilma’s girls, whom Wilma spent a lifetime sharing her secrets, and is crafting her own masterpiece right here – in my own lived in living room – where a part of Wilma’s masterpiece lives on.