Marie Vokal Henderson

The Eulogy for Marie Henderson, delivered by the Reverend Wyn BryantDo not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matt. 6:19-21Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Luke 6:38Now we’ve all heard the saying that “you can’t take it with you.”You may’ve heard the story of the rich old man who had amassed a great fortune and was determined that he would “take it with him,” when he died. When he knew that he was near the end, and wouldn’t live much longer, he called his three most trusted advisors to his bedside: his doctor, his minister, and his attorney, and he told them that he had a plan to take his money with him. He said that he’d converted all his assets into cash and then gave each of them a large, bulky bag full of money and made them promise they would put them in his coffin at his funeral. They all promised they would, and on the day of his funeral, they each dutifully placed a large bulky bag into the coffin before it was sealed. Later, the three of them got together for coffee and after they sat for a while, the minister told the others that he had to get something off his chest.“I thought about all the good that money would do out on the Mission Field—helping out starving children, and so forth, so I sent that money to the church mission fund and just put a bunch of old rags in that bag that I put in the coffin.”The doctor then said that it was a good thing the minister had spoken up, because his conscience was bothering him as well. “I knew that the hospital was having trouble funding the new children’s treatment wing they were building, so I gave all that money to the hospital fund and just put a bunch of cut-up newspaper in the bag I put in the coffin.”Then they looked at the attorney, and he looked back at them with a shocked look on his face: “I can’t believe you fellows!” he said. “This man trusted us—he trusted that we would do what we promised him, and you betrayed that trust! I must confess that I am shocked at your behavior; I really am.“I don’t know what to say. I just want you to know that when it came time for me to put my bag in, it contained a check for the full amount of the cash he gave me!”Now some folks may feel that telling a corny joke at a funeral service is in poor taste, but I felt it was appropriate to tell one here for two very good reasons: (1) if Marie were here, the first thing she would’ve done would be to tell a corny joke—you know she would, because she always told corny jokes—everywhere and on every occasion; and (2) I told that particular story because Marie Henderson is one of the best examples I can think of that proves this old saying is not always true.In many cases, it’s true, “you can’t take it with you.” But in Marie’s case, she proved you can be the richest woman in the world and take every bit of your wealth with you when you go. All you have to do is make sure you’ve amassed the right kind of wealth.As most of you know, Marie was fond of saying that she had won the lottery 5 times!Well, it seems to me if anyone had won the lottery five times, that person would be rich indeed.And that is exactly how Marie thought of herself—she considered herself to the most fortunate, wealthiest person alive.Those of you who know the story of her life—growing up in an abusive, loveless home and struggling with survival during the depression—would agree with me that she had no business thinking of herself as either fortunate or wealthy. By all rights, she should have been sullen, resentful, bitter, and grasping. Given the suffering and sorrow that characterized so much of her early life, any psychologist would have said that it would only be natural for her to be instinctively distrustful toward people and have a personality that was unable to form close relationships or show sympathy and compassion for others.This lady should have had a tiny, shriveled, hardened soul—instead, she was happy, humble, joyful, funny, tender-hearted, and generous: she had a soul as big as Texas! She was hospitable and generous—and she would say it was because of all that God had so generously given her in this life.Her first lottery win, she told me, was when she came to know Jesus as her savior. From then on, as far as she was concerned, she was never a person “in need,” because she had been so generously blessed by God. But then, she says that God increased her fortunes by letting her meet and marry Jim Henderson. I wonder if my wife thinks of me as a “treasure sent from God”? But that wasn’t the end of the winning streak: the next two treasures were Jay and Ben, and their wives and families. And finally, she considered the friendship and fellowship of those of you here—as well as so many others who had been a blessing to her throughout her life—as blessings heaped on top of blessings—“pressed down, shaken together, and running over.”And every bit of that treasure—all the things that she loved, and longed for; everything that gave her joy and gave her life meaning and purpose—she didn’t lose one bit of it—but took every last ounce of it with her. No one could have taken those treasures from her heart on this earth—not even death and the grave. Marie took all of what made her feel rich and fortunate: all of the relationships, all memories, and stories, and victories—all of the things that made her one of the richest women in the world—took every bit of it to heaven with her. There was nothing that truly made her life worth living that she had to let go of when her soul relocated to its heavenly home. That home is already furnished with all of the riches she spent time accumulating here on earth—only, if I understand the text of Luke’s Gospel correctly, there will be a good deal more there than she ever expected.Yessir: Marie proved that if you have accumulated the right kind of treasure, you absolutely can take every penny’s worth of it to heaven with you, when you go.But there is something very strange about this treasure that is also worth pointing out: even though Marie took all her wealth with her, when we take a look around, we can see that she also left it all here on earth as well!It’s true, isn’t it? For every dime’s worth of love or kindness she received, she gave out a dollar’s worth. In fact, even when she was given hard knocks and had good will stolen from her, she still gave back a dollar’s worth of compassion or mercy or laughter or joy.Marie compiled that peculiar sort of treasure that both enriches the soul of the person, herself, and gets poured out in buckets into the souls of others at the same time.She took it with her, but everyone here is living proof that Marie left each one of us huge portions of her treasure—and it is treasure we will be able to take with us in the end as well.I haven’t talked with her in a while, but I know if I had asked her whether I ought to talk about her or about the treasure, she would have said, “Talk about the treasure!”Marie was ready to be blessed by God and so she was blessed. She stayed ready to be blessed by God all her life and so, as far as she could see, God continued to bless her all her life long. She loved being rich in that way, but she was hardly selfish with the joy and hope and laughter that God had given her. She was constantly giving it away.She was thankful to God for her lottery winnings—first, last, and always—and was happy to admit it. But if she had a choice of whether to tell you how happy she was or tell you how to win the lottery, I think she would always want to do the latter. I am happy to say that Marie has not so much “gone on to her reward” as she has gone on with her reward. Right now, she and Jim are having coffee and donuts—or whatever they have up there—with the Lord Jesus and she is thanking him and he is thanking her!It’s pretty simple: we can all be as rich as Marie. And we can all take it with us.It’s just a matter of how willing we are for God to make us rich—and how willing we are to thank Him when he does.