May 8, 2022, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:
Behind great Christian men are great Christian mothers
Most Americans have heard of
Billy Graham, once called “America’s pastor,” and many know of Franklin Graham,
his son who now is head of his late father’s ministry.
Anyone
who’s spent much time in a Methodist church has heard of John Wesley, who
founded the Methodist movement, and maybe Charles Wesley, writer of more than
6,500 hymns, including “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
On Mother’s Day, though, let’s
take a quick look at two women who deserve their own accolades outside of the successful
men in their lives.
Ruth Bell Graham
Ruth Bell Graham, born in 1920,
married Billy Graham in 1943 after the two met at Wheaton College, a Christian
school near Chicago. If she hadn’t agreed to become the behind-the-scenes
support of the world’s most famous preacher, she probably would have been a
missionary in Tibet or China, where she had grown up the daughter of medical missionaries.
It’s well known that as it
turned out, Ruth kept the home fires burning in North Carolina, raising the
Grahams’ five children while Billy carried the gospel around the globe. On the
Graham ministry website, son Franklin recalled, “My mother was always
bright and sparkly, even when she worried or would get only an hour or two of
sleep at night. … Mother never went to bed until all of us children were back
in for the night. She has that bright, cheerful personality, and I believe it
comes from her daily walk with the Lord.”
Daughter
Anne Graham Lotz, a speaker and author, remembered, “I would go down to my
mother’s room early in the morning. Her light would be on, and I would find her
at her big, flat-top desk. She would have about 14 different translations of
the Bible spread out. She would be reading and studying her Bible.
“I would go down to her room late at
night. I would see the light on underneath the door and I’d go in, and she
would be on her knees in prayer.” Anne said she believes her mother’s daily
walk with Jesus saved her from loneliness as her husband preached away from
home for months at a time.
In addition to managing the home and
the kids, Ruth was a key counselor for Billy’s evangelism decisions and advised
him on his sermons and books. She wrote or co-wrote 14 books herself, some for
children and many featuring her poetry.
Susanna Wesley was born in 1669 in
England. Her father and husband both were ministers, but it was two of her sons
who had a great impact on the world.
Susanna Wesley
Susanna gave birth to 19 children, 10
of whom survived to adulthood. Like Ruth Graham, she was the primary presence
in her children’s lives. She had a talent for organization, scheduling a daily
hour to spend separately with each of her children, instructing them in the
Bible and about life.
According to a United Methodist
history website, “When the children were small, she developed a remarkable and
effective method of education and spiritual nurture.
“As
they grew older, she wrote manuals for them on such topics as the attributes of
God, the Apostles' Creed and the Holy Spirit. John, Charles and the other
children relied on her wise counsel on matters spiritual, theological, and
personal.”
With
all of John Wesley’s achievements in advancing God’s Word, he was a failure at
marriage, and his mother remained one of his major influences. In a 1732 letter
to John, she gave child-rearing advice: “As self-will is the root of all sin
and misery, so whatever cherishes this in children insures their after wretchedness
and irreligion; whatever checks and mortifies it, promotes their future
happiness and piety."
To
her son Samuel, she wrote in 1709, “In all things endeavor to act on principle,
and do not live like the rest of mankind, who pass through the world like
straws upon a river, which are carried which way the stream or wind drives
them."
Susanna
Wesley died in 1742 at age 73. Biographer Susan Pellowe summed up her life:
“…although she never preached a sermon or published a book or founded a church,
(she) is known as the Mother of Methodism. Why? Because two of her sons, John
Wesley and Charles Wesley, as children consciously or unconsciously, applied
the example and teachings and circumstances of their home life.”
Ruth Graham died in 2007 at age 87,
11 years before Billy followed her. Both are buried on the grounds of the Billy
Graham Library at Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s telling that a Congressional
Gold Medal awarded in 1996 had an engraving of the faces of “the Rev. Billy and
Ruth Graham” on the front, recognizing the key role Ruth had played in the
ministry.
Ruth’s gravestone includes Chinese
characters meaning, “righteousness.” It also quotes a highway sign she had seen
years before: “End of construction. Thank you for your patience.”
I’d say God’s construction of both Susanna’s and Ruth’s lives was on a firm foundation.
