Matthew 25:31-46
New International Version (NIV)
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

One of my grandmother's favorite stories was when she was 7 years old.  Her mother was very sick and later passed away leaving the memory so deeply impressed in her mind that she never forgot.  She was playing with her doll near her mother's room when her mother called her over to her bedside.  I can picture her mother reaching a frail hand toward Mae and whispering, “Be a good girl so you can go to heaven.”   The frequency of the story increase the last few years; almost every time I saw her she would tell me again of her mothers commission to her.  For years I have thought it was just a rotating memory pulled from the past, but as I sit now remembering the life that has been taken from me I believe she was telling ne as well as others the secret to a life well lived. 

All throughout my childhood I remember her “being good”.  When we were very young my brother, sister and I would “be late” for school so would walk to her house so she would give us a ride instead of having to walk.  Hand made Birthday cakes with yellow frosting with bunnies made from cut up marshmallows.   I remember her dragging me along with her to the Dorcus Society to help sort clothes and usually coming home with some “find” for myself.  The hand written letters that she would write to us when we were away at school, always with some religious tidbit was included on how to get closer to Jesus and “be good.”  She is the one who helped me learn to write cursive, tell time and that “anything will come out or off if you use enough elbow grease!” or “That shall ye sow, that shall ye rip.”  Never did she fail to be there for us or anyone who needed her.  Her love was unconditional despite the pain and problems we caused her, and trust me, she had a lot of frustration and tears for all of us.

But the greatest gift she ever gave me was calluses on her knees.  If it were not for her prayers for her lost and wayward granddaughter I would never have come back to the Church.  I can see her now kneeling by her bed pouring out her heart to God for her family.  Every one weighed heavily on her heart.  Prayers that did not stop until the end!   Once again she prayed for her family.  I believe with the same fervency that she had heard in her mother's voice.  “God, help them to be good so they can go to heaven!”  

I look at my own life in comparison to hers and it falls pitifully short.  How many times do I drive by the bagger at the roadside and turn away, unwilling to waste $5-10 dollars when I drive a $25,000 car.  Not having time to call or text a friend or family member I know is having a bad day or send an old fashioned card to brighten someone's day and encourage them.  So wrapped up in my own life and problems that I fail to see others around me or of lending a helping hand to lift a burden and share a load.  Asking myself the question that if Jesus were to come today would I be a sheep or a goat.  I am afraid of the answer.    

I think in her way Grandma was trying to tell me the secret to life she had found in her mother's words.  Repeating them over and over, not for her benefit but for mine.  Hoping I would remember her plea: “Be good so you can go to heaven!”  Not just to dream of the day when we are called at death, but of how to live a life here now.  To find the way to live as she did for the benefit of others, to look to Jesus despite the questions, Why's, unanswered prayers, broken dreams, hardness of my heart and selfishness I have, but to push past to a life a service and love.  Not just to our family but to everyone!

Proverbs 31: 10 – 31, describes Mae so well:
10 [b]Who can find a virtuous and capable woman?
    She is more precious than rubies.
11 Her husband can trust her,
    and she will greatly enrich his life.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
    all the days of her life.
13 She finds wool and flax
    and busily spins it.
14 She is like a merchant's ship,
    bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household
    and plan the day's work for her servant girls.
16 She goes to inspect a field and buys it;
    with her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She is energetic and strong,
    a hard worker.
18 She makes sure her dealings are profitable;
    her lamp burns late into the night.
19 Her hands are busy spinning thread,
    her fingers twisting fiber.
20 She extends a helping hand to the poor
    and opens her arms to the needy.
21 She has no fear of winter for her household,
    for everyone has warm[c] clothes.
22 She makes her own bedspreads.
    She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns.
23 Her husband is well known at the city gates,
    where he sits with the other civic leaders.
24 She makes belted linen garments
    and sashes to sell to the merchants.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity,
    and she laughs without fear of the future.
26 When she speaks, her words are wise,
    and she gives instructions with kindness.
27 She carefully watches everything in her household
    and suffers nothing from laziness.
28 Her children stand and bless her.
    Her husband praises her:
29 “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
    but you surpass them all!”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
    but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised.
31 Reward her for all she has done.
    Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.


Grandmother's gift to me is not a treasure here, but a legacy of a life well lived.   The secret to success for not only this world but in the earth made new.  St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.”

I expect to pass through the world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again. – Unknown

Mae firmly believed in living and as a result it touched everyone in this room with blessings of hope and love.  I challenge us here today to listen and learn from an old, old story, not of just of Mae's life but of Jesus and his love! To give him a change to change our hearts and life to be like his as she did, to make the world around us a better place so that we to can “be good so we can go to heaven” and be with Mae again!

Matthew 25:
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

I am so sorry to hear of your Mom's passing.  The picture of her is just beautiful, and something I'm sure will be a comfort to you all in years to come.  I know that you will be at a great loss Mariyln w/ out her--she was a great person to have around, and the jokes she used to play on you all.  She did love her family and life.  I am thinking of you all.  Carmen Sandell (Lincoln NE)

What a wonderful life Mae lived for her Lord!  She never lived her life with fanfare--just a quiet, but steady and firm commitment to the God she loved and served.  I never visited with her but what she had some praise to give Him or some encouragement to follow Him.  God has blessed her with 102 years of life here on this earth and an eternity to follow.  Her life has meant much to me.

Mae was such a good friend....she and Keelan were instrumental in bringing my mother and I to Jesus.  They made room in their car for 7 extra people on Sabbath to drive 35 miles or more to church, provided us with food and hospitality in their home; helped me to attend PVA, encouraged and helped.  They were true Christians.  I know they will be missed.  I have good memories of time spent in their home on the farm in Arnold, NE.       Kay Cote (Chico, CA)

My first recollection of Mae was when I was a college student at Union College back in 1973.  I was a new Adventist and after one semester in school, realized I could not afford to be there.  Pastor Chapman sent me to meet Keland and Mae Ledbetter.  I can still recall her words to me after we got acquainted:  “This is our home and if we can help a student get through school, then we are doing the Lords work.  Welcome to our home…we want you to feel it is your home as long as you are at Union.” Thus began a wonderful lifelong friendship with Mae and her dear husband.  

After my sophomore year, I took a year off and went as a student missionary to Ireland.  During that year, Mae and her husband built a new house out of town.  I didn't have a car and feared I would not be able to live with them when I returned to school because I would not have transportation.  Their hearts were larger than life and they offered me one of their vehicles to go back and forth to school.  That was the kind of people they were! I truly loved them.  When I graduated from college and got my first apartment in Lincoln, they gave me the couch from their living room so I would have some furniture to start out with. That is the kind of generosity they extended.  Christianity in motion – if there was a need, they found a way to help.

Mae was not only a Christian in name, but lived it daily.  It was a part of her being.  She was solid pillar of Seventh-day Adventist christianity to me. I was blessed to have known her. She didn't know it, but when she and her husband knelt by their bedsides to pray daily, I heard those prayers as they traveled through the vents into my room. I could tell they had a strong friendship and connection to God by the way they prayed …. They talked to him as to a friend. Each day she would lift her family members one by one before the throne and ask God to watch over them, protect them and draw them into a fuller experience. That touched my heart. There is something to be said about the unending faithfulness of a mother.

She was a thrifty woman and that gift for thrift afforded her time and money to help her family and others in need around her. She believed wholeheartedly in Christian education and helped her grandchildren get that education. She was a wonderful cook, lived a health conscious life, did volunteer work for the church and helped where she saw a need.  She didn't play church, she was church in action.

One of my greatest treasures as a young Seventh-day Adventist Christian back then was to  learn from her what it meant to enjoy the Sabbath.  This meant cleaning the house on Friday, preparing food for Sabbath, having cloths clean and everything in order.  I learned through her experience that when sundown came, there was a special day that was beginning and being prepared for it brought its own set of blessings.  I loved those Friday afternoons as we'd work side by side to clean the house, prepare the food and welcome in the Sabbath day.

She believed and looked forward to the day when Jesus comes and talked about it often and after I moved away, wrote about it often. She had the burden for her family that not one would be missing – this was her greatest desire and one day will be her greatest joy.

I made plans to visit her in Chicago when she went to her grandson's wedding when she was 100 years old.  It was a joyful reunion after many years.  We hugged each other and then I knew how much I had missed seeing my dear, dear friend. We looked into each other's eyes and there was a sparkle of happiness that friendship brings. As we talked, the years and distance melted away.  It reminded me of what it would be like when Jesus comes and loved ones are reunited once again never more to separate.

Mae is at rest now until she hears the Master's voice and death will no longer have its grip. We celebrate her life today and remember what she has shown us and taught us throughout her life about Jesus and what it means to know him. One day soon the trumpets will sound and the graves will open to life everlasting.  Until then dear friend, rest in Jesus.

Love,
Barbara

Aunt Mae was an example to me what a Christian servant is. She gave to others unselfishly, providing housing to students, working at the Good Neighbor House in Lincoln, Ne, making baby blankets, heart pillows for heart patients, making children clothes for missions is to name only a few of the many things she did in her life.  She did many things for me too, sewing for me, letting me stay in her home and even bringing all the way back to Nebraska on a plane a Peppermint Chiffon cake for me.  She was a faithful in her prayer life. She told me that she always planned what she was going to do the next day so she didn't waste time the next day.  She had a great sense of humor and always enjoyed a good laugh. I am so thankful that she knew that Lord Jesus Chirst as her personal Savior and know that she is resting in the presence of God.   Her Niece Joyce Howe

Aunt Mae was a wonderful Christian mentor.  She loved Jesus first and foremost.  She loved her family.  She loved life.  She loved me.  I look forward to being with Aunt Mae and Uncle Keelen in heaven some day as a brother in Christ.  We love you Aunt Mae.  I love you.  Jason Howe

OBITUARIO

Mae Ledbetter

27 febrero, 1910 – 27 enero, 2013

Montecito Memorial Park and Mortuary

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