More from Mary Hunt Webb

In today’s mediation, I compared the spilling of water between compartments of an ice cube tray to sharing what we have with others. Such “spilling over” goes by other terms including “sharing” and “bartering.” My mother’s phrase for it was, “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours!” That kind of mutual cooperation occurs within communities such as neighborhoods, churches, schools, and workplaces, to name a few. 

While my family didn’t have a car, much money, or many possessions when I was growing up, we had love and community within our quadrant of Oklahoma City. Our needs and the needs of others around us meant that we depended on each other. In our daily lives, we associated with each other so often that we spilled over into each other’s lives. 

Close association is a vital part of such interdependence. Until I was ten years old, we lived in a duplex in which two dwellings existed under one roof with a wall separating the homes. The accompanying photo of my mother and me was taken while we lived in that duplex. We not only shared a wall and a roof with our neighbors but also a backyard and a clothesline for hanging wet laundry. I remember a summer evening when our neighbors and some friends gathered to churn homemade ice cream in our backyard. Mother baked a cake, despite the summer heat, and others contributed goodies as well. We children took turns sitting on the freezers to stabilize them down while the men turned the cranks on the non-electric ice cream freezers. None of us had much money, but we had a great time! 

My older sister’s upright piano sat against the shared wall in the dining room that separated our dwelling from that of our neighbor. Since my sister was the pianist for all services and activities at our church, she practiced every day. Because her talent was needed in our community, friends provided transportation not only to church services but also to other events for which she played that we wouldn’t have been able to attend otherwise. 

My mother was skilled at bartering. Since we did not own a car, she traded babysitting and home-cooked meals for transportation to the grocery store, school events, and other places to which a bus line could not take us. Although there were only three of us in our family, I remember meals when there were more than that seated around our dinner table. 

From my family I learned to share my goods, time, and talents. That spilled over into sharing the gospel as well. Because of that, one of my favorite hymns is, “Let Others See Jesus in You.” The words and the music by B.B. McKinney are just as meaningful today as when they received a copyright in 1924. The first verse says, “While passing through this world of sin, And others your life shall view, Be clean and pure without, within, Let others see Jesus in you.” If it’s not in your church’s hymnal, you can find it online. I try to live so that others see Jesus in me even when it’s not an appropriate time to tell them about Jesus and tell them how much God loves them. 

My husband and I pray that we can reflect our Lord to others, just as Mother did. Toward that end, we have a website. We welcome you to explore our postings on our Webbsite at http://www.maryhuntwebb.com/.