We’ve gathered together today to celebrate the life of a lady who touched the lives of many and in her days, left an indelible mark upon this community. Georgina McAnally was (and forever will be) my mother. However, she was also my first employer, our property manager, our real estate consultant, and friend. In the past week that we’ve been driving Craig’s streets, we’ve seen Georgina’s fingerprints everywhere – in properties she has sold, in businesses she frequented, in memories that were shared in our community’s gathering places. We can barely pass by a single address without pausing and remembering, “Oh yeah, and that’s where she…”
Georgina McAnally will be greatly missed, yet she will be fondly remembered.
Today, I want to share with you three brief truths about my mom that have helped me navigate some difficult waters. I was reminded of these truths as I spent time in the Bible, asking God to show me a word that could begin to heal the hurt I felt, and could also do the same for you. As I searched, I kept settling on the book of John, chapter 11, where Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the dead. Jesus had received news of his friend’s death, and he entered a scene of tremendous mourning. Jesus demonstrates profound vulnerability in this situation, but also profound power and providence. My hope is that these truths will speak to you and help you heal as you mourn the loss of a person who meant so much to so many.
The first truth I want to share with you is that family matters. Family always mattered to my mother. And the real neat thing is, her concept of family grew as she grew. I know this to be true because her staff at American Northwest Realty considers itself a family. I know this because I have received an email from a neighbor who told me that she is in real estate today because of Georgina’s influence on her life. I know this because people have stopped us in the streets to tell us how she believed in them when they didn’t believe in themselves; how she encouraged small business owners to keep giving it a go and new home owners to make the house they just purchased a home. I know this because she thought that every child should have a gift to open on Christmas because all humanity received the best Christmas gift when the Savior was born in a manger 2000 years ago. I know this because she considered all of Craig as her family, and she was proud of her family, and she wanted the best for her family.
And because we are all part of her family, she was quite maternal. I remember a time my senior when I was in high school playing a basketball game in Glenwood Springs. We were in a tight divisional contest, and I was called for a foul that I certainly did not commit. Being a competitive young man, I blurted out an expletive. And in a roaring gymnasium, Georgina’s voice could be heard above all the rest as she scolded me at top volume, “Bryan Eugene McAnally! I did not raise you to speak like that!” As embarrassing as it was, I learned the lesson. Because she was there to teach it. She was always there. She never missed a game of Jamie’s or mine. She traveled everywhere and she was always cheering for us. She was also always there when we missed curfew or thought we could get away with something. She was always there when money was tight and we needed a few dollars. She was always there to suggest a trip to the mall or Payless.
I believe mom’s broad concept of family honors God. Jesus had a broad concept of family. Elsewhere in Scripture, Jesus said that his family includes anyone who hears the word of God and obeys it. In this particular passage where Jesus arrived in Judea where Lazarus had died, Jesus is mentioned as loving Lazarus, as well as his sisters Mary and Martha. And Jesus, already knowing what he would accomplish in raising him, still did the unthinkable…he wept.
Jesus cried. He cried because his friend, someone he thought of as family – someone he loved – had died. What an important message this is for us. Tears are not only “okay,” they’re essential. We need to grieve our loss and weep the tears that come with it. Cry for as long as you need to, for your tears will cease when you no longer need to shed them. My hope is that your tears will carry away the difficult details of mom’s death, so that while you (like I) can never forget them, we can instead focus on the countless joy-filled memories of laughter, of happiness, and pleasant times that came with being a part of a common family with Georgina.
The second truth I feel is so very important to share today is that of forgiveness. Forgiveness was a real growth edge in Georgina’s life. These last few months, mom and I shared several conversations where the topic was forgiveness. We spent a lot of time in the Bible together, seeing what God had to say about forgiveness. She was learning that unforgiveness was like trying to bind up someone who had offended you, only to discover that you yourself were ensnared by the bindings. She did not want to be restrained by unforgiveness, and she was daily working toward forgiving others and forgiving herself. She desired deeply to release people and circumstances to God, so that she could be free to live in the grace and mercy of God. Even in her final days, she was asking others to forgive and to be kind to each other.
The Bible relates that many of the miracles Jesus performed, like giving sight to the blind and causing the paralytic to walk, were accomplished so that people would understand that He has and gives the power to forgive. In fact, we ask God in what is known as the Lord’s prayer to forgive us as we forgive others. That request can be incredibly liberating or incredibly convicting.
As Georgina’s son and a minister of the Word of God, I make this request of you: Will you please make a commitment to forgive? If you are harboring unforgiveness today, I ask you to release it to God. You may be angry toward someone who you feel is responsible for the circumstances that draw us here today. You may be upset at Georgina herself. You may even be unforgiving toward yourself because you’re holding on to thoughts that if you had only done more or done something different. I understand these feelings. I wrestle with them myself. I have learned that I don’t want to be bound by unforgiveness, and that forgiveness is not an event, it is a process. I have to give this to God, over and over again, because human nature wants to hold the hangman’s jury. But the reality is, God forgives us of so much, and if we really want to be free of the pain of this day, then forgiveness is absolutely vital. Please, to honor Georgina, I ask you to forgive others, to forgive her, and to forgive yourself.
Finally, the third truth I want to share is the truth of faith. Back in the 11th chapter of John, the sisters Mary and Martha are shown to have placed all their faith in Jesus. They called him “Lord.” They had put all their trust in him. They did not know all that he could do, but they absolutely believed that if something miraculous could be done on behalf of their brother Lazarus, Jesus could do it.
Friends….family….I want you to know the greatest thing about my mother, Georgina McAnally. Her greatness was never fully realized as a mother, a wife, a grandmother, a sister, a daughter, a friend, or even as a real estate Broker. As good as she was in all these relationships, the greatest thing about my mom is her God. Georgina McAnally had placed the care and keeping of her soul in the watch care of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah of God. As great as her deeds were, those deeds were inadequate to gain her entry into heaven. She would have told you that herself. As great as this church is, she would tell you herself that belonging to this church is not what allows her to dwell in the presence of the Lord for eternity. She learned and believed that her sole basis for the forgiveness of her sins and the now fulfilled promise of heaven and eternal life was given, guaranteed, and affirmed by the work of Jesus on the cross 2000 years ago. She placed her faith in him, and trusted him to resurrect her from death to eternal life in heaven.
The many deeds she performed for Craig, not to gain heaven, but because heaven was already her destination. And while my mom may not have ever been confused as a deeply religious person, she understood the simple truth that we give out of an overflow of what we have been given. Mom loved God imperfectly, but she trusted in his perfect atoning love for her. She wanted me to share this truth with you because she considers you family, and she wants you to experience the forgiving love of God, so that you may have the life-changing faith she experienced.
The Bible states it very clearly: if you call upon the name of the Lord, you will not be put to shame in the day of judgment. If you confess that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Georgina had done that, and now her faith has been realized. To honor my mother, and more importantly, to honor the God who created and redeemed her, I share that same opportunity with you. Maybe you’ve always believed in the reality of God, but you’ve never trusted in God, then today you’ve heard that faith is belief and trust. If you have never trusted, then I invite you to pray this prayer with me, speaking in your heart to God, who promises to hear if you call out to him:
Georgina McAnally was an amazing woman who belonged to the most amazing Lord. She was easy to take for granted because she was always there. Her accomplishments, when you list them out, are astounding – even though she’d brush them off with a gesture so she could instead focus upon the next need. I will cherish the memories from my childhood when I’d lay my head in her lap and she’d just run her fingers through my hair. I will hold dear the memories of the love she lavished upon my wife and my children. I am thankful for the love of Craig that she instilled in me and my brother Jamie. I am proud to be her son, and I am proud to be part of the family of this community, no matter how many miles separate us. I thank God for giving me Georgina McAnally as my mother, and giving her to Craig in service, sacrifice, and love.