June 1981
Although Mrs. Green “opens her mouth in wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue” (Prov. 31:25) she is “Evelyn” to only a very few in our 300-member Chalcedon Presbyterian congregation. There’s too much respect for the 71-year-old, God-fearing woman.
“Strength and dignity are her clothing” and “she smiles at the future” (Prov. 31:25) was what I observed about her as one of her three young traveling companions on our way to a four-day Christian retreat.
This gathering, one of several organized by the Sovereign Grace Fellowship of Clemson University, was to be a time of their graduation celebration; with fellowship, and sun and fun on South Carolina’s coastline. Mrs. Green was to be their iron-sharpening chaperone.
She invited me and two other friends from our church family to take the trip with her. We were all excited for this new adventure; a beach retreat with Mrs. Green!
As we packed the car in her front yard, I thought about how she must miss Mr. (Lowell) Green. He was her beloved godly husband for 42 years who died only weeks prior to this particularly clear spring day. This God-pleasing couple shared an intimate walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and was known as faithful and very effective prayer warriors of our church. They prayed for and supported missionaries all over the world! Mrs. Green always was sending letters and postcards to encourage them!
For many years, the Greens were frequently invited to various college retreats as dearly loved and honored chaperones. Their hearts were committed to "love the Lord’s people wherever we found them,” as Mrs. Green would tell me later during our five-hour drive home.
As our car moved down the broad highway, the early Sunday afternoon sunshine warmed the windows and sprayed the west side of the gold Chevrolet. It covered Mrs. Green’s tightly curled silver-grey hair and must have soothed her shoulders beneath her well-pressed brown and white checked dress.
Mrs. Green and I sat in the back seats. As the two of us began to unwrap our picnic of ham sandwiches, pineapple and cream cheese sandwiches, and potato chips, I thought of this woman who surprised us with such a bountiful lunch ---a woman who “carried an imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God” (I Peter 3:4).
Tossed between my hunger for lunch and pangs for the secret of her wisdom and way of life, I quizzed her as I ate. Her voice cracked as she began to speak but then she boldly described the schedule she shared with Mr. Green; and now follows it without him. She gets up at 4:30 a.m. to read and meditate on Scripture. “A cup of hot tea will temporarily break the fast until breakfast,” she told me.
Overwhelmed by her life-long (almost, anyway) walk with Christ, I wondered out loud how she met His grace. She was 14 when “a high school teacher peppered his lessons with Christianity”. That was the summer she was baptized and made her commitment, according to the Georgia-born-and-bred grandmother.
For many years she and “her Lowell” believed the history of doctrine. “We heard there was a reformed man in Atlanta who had a church. We sought him out. Through much prayer with Lowell and praying separately, we waited upon the Lord, and again prayerfully joined Chalcedon.” Mrs. Green carefully recalled this between bites of her last potato chip.
We were finishing lunch and moving on through tiny towns with two-lane roads and stopped once for ice cream. We worked our way through the city of Charleston and pulled up in front of a massive, two-story barracks-like beach house, which is what would be our shelter for our stay.
As soon as we pulled up, it was like a delightful squeal of excitement coming from collegians clad in bathing suits and Clemson jerseys. These were early bird arrivals who had scattered from the beach and house to meet our car. Mrs. Green was greeted by her energetic admirers with hugs and kisses as well as condolences for the passing of Mr. Green. They deeply loved him, too.
Well into the evening new faces and old faces (to Mrs. Green) filtered in and by 10:30 p.m. the number of the college-age clan grew to 30. By then the singing of Psalms and hymns were accompanied by piano and guitar and desserts were passed around. Mrs. Green smiled, sang, and rocked in a chair brought especially for her by a young friend.
Individually, travel-weary singers sleepily found their triple-decker bunks in the separated men’s and women’s areas. Mrs. Green and her driving companions were to sleep in the quarters on the first level. The second level housed the two massive bunk rooms, the commercial-sized kitchen, the dining/meeting room, and the long, screened porch which faced the ocean.
Bathing suits and Bibles were the order of the new day as the college students – who were studied to be nurses, architects, engineers, veterinarians, business leaders, and teachers --greeted the beach and sand dunes. As God’s children they rested, knowing they would soon set out in the world as a new crop that would become a harvest of radiant leaders.
And there was Mrs. Green, watching this through her sunglasses and wearing a plaid dress, sneakers, and neatly combed hair. She was quiet as a prayer and as observant and available as an open Bible. She’d sit in her rocker on the porch for a while. I watched a tall, brown-haired sportswriter named Mike (she knew everyone’s name and personal and spiritual background by the end of the retreat) pull up a chair beside her and talk for almost an hour. A red-haired co-ed --a nursing student -- would join them and sit on the wooden floor that was sparsely covered in peeling grey paint.
Later that day Mrs. Green sat on the long, wooden stairway that leads from the porch to the sand. Several youths surrounded her; for advice, attention, and to honor her because “wisdom has built her house” (Prov. 9:1).
She strolled to the beach to closely watch six young believers build a sandcastle. And with sand in her shoes, she smiled. Then she sat on a beach towel and visited with a newcomer.
Mrs. Green is “like merchant ships; she brings her food from afar (Prov. 31:15)”. This spiritual feeding nourished itself throughout the entire retreat.
On the journey homeward, a feeling of renewal came over the car like a wave. Freshness, vitality, and humility on a grand scale is the description of this worthy woman. “But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the product of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates” (Prov. 31:30-31).
As we pulled away from the waving crowd, Mrs. Green was putting away some notes she had been journaling throughout the weekend. They were to remind her to keep in touch with and to pray specifically for each one whom she touched.
Beautiful seeds were planted in my heart as I watched the witness of this worthy woman called Mrs. Green. She didn't even think about her impact on a multitude who knew her. Her eyes were on Christ and His love. God blessed our friendship for 30 years and nurtured us both with His love and grace. Our mentor/mentee relationship budded, blossomed, and her legacy flourishes on; because I am continuing to bear the fruit of this love of God and Mrs. Green.
💖Polly
