A purpose driven woman

John Hatcher is pastor of Outreach International Center, 1091 South Jeff Davis Drive, Fayetteville, Georgia 30215. 770-719-0303

By JOHN HATCHER
Contributing Writer

Marianna Laney was an ordinary woman, but when she took up the pen and paper, she became a force of love and encouragement not easily dismayed.

She was an ordinary woman, but when she said she loved you, you could take that to the bank. She would never back down from accepting and loving no matter how you behaved.

She was an ordinary woman, brought up in the south, but was able to embrace change with the grace of the Lord himself. She took what God had given her in personality, talents, and gifts and took it all to the limit. Those of us who grieve her death June 3, 2005 realize the width and breath of our own lives will scarcely compare to that of Marianna Laney who was extraordinary because of what she did with what God gave her.

I was blessed in serving as her pastor for 16 years. She saw a lot of things happen to my family over the years and remained loving and faithful. We would often call her Saint Marianna in our home. No, Marianna was not without her imperfections as we all are. Probably as her pastor, I could see those better than most. But as I write these words in memory I must confess she could very well be up there with some of the best. I never heard her use a curse word. I never heard her laugh at an off color remark. I never saw her show a discourtesy to anyone.

I do remember her reverence for the Bible, always hiding it in her heart and entrusting her life to its veracity. I do remember her praying with the sweetest voice, knowing she was talking to her maker and the lover of her soul. I do remember her always — that is, always — having room for one more person to love and encourage. I do remember her leaving her comfortable home for assisted living and making sure she had her pen and paper and list of addresses.

For, if you want to zero in on how she impacted our lives, it was with her beautiful and caring penmanship. Ancient Archimedes once said, “Give me but one firm spot on which to stand, and I will move the earth.” Marianna could have said, “Give me but one table, a pen, a piece of paper and I will encourage and love the world.”

And she did it. By her own account, she would send out 20 cards and letters each week to people she knew personally and people she didn’t know personally. It did not matter. What mattered was that Marianna loved them because God had loved her. She was confident that if God had given her a miracle, he would do the same for others.

She wrote to the brother of a friend for three years, encouraging him, imploring him to trust in the love of God. At the end of her three years of letter after letter, she got to meet him and what a day of rejoicing that was for her.

Far too many of us want immediate gratification and reward for our good deeds. Marianna was prepared to wait three years and even longer. She just kept faithful with what God had given her to do: encourage and love with paper and pen. Indeed, Marianna proved in her own life that the pen is more powerful than the sword. In one year’s time, she could have mailed out more than 1,000 messages of hope and encouragement. Wow!

What was it like behind the pen and paper? She was hugs and kisses. She wanted to know how mama and daddy were doing. And she listened unlike most of us. For most of us it goes in one ear and out the other. She hung on to what you told her and filed it in her marvelous memory bank from which she could retrieve facts, dates and events at just the right time. I often staggered at her ability to recall happenings in my own family I couldn’t remember myself.

As always, a life lived so well before us calls us to a challenge: why can’t we live as large as she? Why can’t we care as deeply and widely as she? Why can’t we influence the world with God’s love as she? The answer, of course, is that we can. We need lots more of her kind. I pray especially that her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will sincerely appreciate their rich heritage in this miracle of a woman. I pray that they will take on the challenge of her life to give until you can’t give anymore.

And that’s what happened June 3. She just had given out. And since giving is what God placed as her purpose, he called her home: “Well done, Marianna, you couldn’t have done it any better.” She was an original: a purpose driven woman.

• Note: Marianna Laney was the subject of a story in The Citizen in 1999. To read the story, go to The Citizen’s archives, http://www.thecitizennews.com/main/archive-990307/news/fp-04.shtml.