Life Lived, Lessons Learned, Following Jesus #1- Ken Williams

Learning from Bonnie, a Christ follower:

Twenty-one years ago, Nancy and I joined family and neighbors grieving Bonnie Theodora Kellesvig Strommen’s death. We smile as we recall the good times we shared with her. Some memories come from our changed relationship after Sally died, her beloved husband of 53 years. For the ten years following his death, she occasionally wept recalling a memory of their rich life together.

Bonnie mourned but embraced the gift of knowing Jesus was embracing and comforting her (Mat.5:4). She knew Jesus was leading all his followers to be coheirs of the earth (Mat. 5:5). She rejoiced in the blessing of following Jesus; he rubbed off on her (Mat. 5:3-10). She freely received and freely gave to others (Mat. 10:8b).

She freely gave rides to her posse of mourning widows in her dilapidated 1987 Ford Taurus station wagon. Newer posse members, accustomed to impatient, busy people giving rides to the store asked, “You mean I don’t have to hurry to get my groceries?” Bonnie enjoyed not hurrying and shared it with her friends, along with their friend Jesus. They hung out in cafes, went on doctor’s appointments, local shops, and to movies.

Son, Woody and Carol, living close at hand, took good care of her when needed. Bonnie and her big Russian Grey cat, Smoky, lived in their dwelling in Alice Place Monroe Wisconsin Apartments. Most residents loved Bonnie and Smoky. He was big, friendly and smart, and learned how to open Bonnie’s front apartment door, so he visited neighbors and hung out. Smoky must have been accustomed to Bonnie sharing Abba’s Spirit of affection so he may have been confident that everyone loved, or would, love him.

We lived in Rochester NY, six states away, so Bonnie and Smoky would stay with us for a month. She had her private place to read her worn-out Bible, pray, and muse over her daily devotions, she was following Jesus, by caring for other members of her home church, but was not preachy or religious. She was always our welcome guest, except for Smoky.

Our feral rescue cat, Piddy, hated Smoky, but he seemed to accept her slaps and spit as an invitation to play. One day he trotted after retreating Piddy with our year-old grandson Tyler, crawling quickly after them. When cornered she exploded with spit, shrieks, rapid machine-gun slaps, and bites on top of startled Smoky, momentarily on his back. Neither Smoky nor Tyler learned. I let Piddy out the door before they arrived. I consoled her once I stopped laughing.

Bonnie died twenty-one years ago, and we agreed to store five of Bonnie’s 45 lb. tubs in our cellar. At that time, we were too busy with our family and careers to take time to consider the contents. Once we retired and after some years of adjustment to our new lives, we got serious about downsizing. I stood in front of the five dusty, neglected tubs and thought, “The kids won’t want this ‘stuff’, now what?” But remembering Bonnie’s beautiful spirit I considered, “I wonder what’s in them?”

Living and learning from Bonnie, a Christ-follower, enabled me to see that my inconsideration is a character flaw that kept me from looking inside the tubs. The Holy Spirit enabled me to see that I used “being business” as justification for behaving and speaking inconsiderately in more ways than one. Observing Bonnie following Jesus helped me consider my actions, and thoughts, before doing or speaking.

I was learning to consider the content of a container not just the container.

The first tub contained Bonnie’s Norwegian Strommen family history, with more examples of life lived and lessons learned, following Jesus, so stay tuned for “Life Lived, Lessons Learned, Following Jesus #2”

Ken and Nancy Williams served for some 25 years in pastoral ministry, and then almost another 20 years serving and mentoring other pastors.  With the heart of a pastor Ken continues to write and blog from upstate New York where he and Nancy live close to their grandchildren.