Polly Mead Funeral Message

Polly Mead Funeral (with Bekah)

Matthew 13:52 NIV

52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Polly’s Treasures

Some of Jesus’s most inspiring lessons are about hunting for treasures. Treasures can be quite subjective. What one person considers a treasure might be tossed aside as garbage by another. Over time, we learn to see the treasures we once held dear as children in different ways.

There are two types of treasure hunters in the world: those who build up storehouses of treasures and disappear inside them, lock the doors behind them and are not seen for weeks or months, and those who take those treasures and give them away to anyone and everyone. Polly was this second kind of treasure hunter. She had treasures lining her bookshelves and toy closets that were there for her children, grandchildren, and probably great-grandchildren as well.

The second time Bekah and I met Polly and Susan was at their booth at the market by the Gasthof. They had other treasures they had acquired and were looking for new people to bless them with. Jesus taught a lot about treasure, how to find it, and what to do with it, and you could read through the bible to find out all about it. Or you could spend a day with Polly. She could show you what it looked like to know how to make ends meet, that there was a time to gather and a time to let go. She could show you that it wasn’t always easy to know when that time was or to do it when it came. And she could teach you how to take care of those treasures.

Polly’s Treasures 2

I think the secret to Polly’s wisdom in treasure hunting was that her true treasures were never the books or the toys. They were not the decorations or antiques. Her true treasures were you, her family. As new pastors in the area, she kept us up on what many of you were doing, even though we had never met. She talked about how proud she was of you and what you were doing with your life. She worried about you when you were going through tough times. She prayed for you and asked us to pray for you as well. Jesus taught that where our hearts are, we will find our treasure, and it was obvious to us that you were her true treasures and she intended to care for you until the very end.

In the last weeks of her life, as I visited with her at Oakridge, she had given up a lot of her possessions from home other than some pink and purple blankets and pillows and a baby doll. I could not always hear or follow her well, but it struck me that she cared for that doll like it was her own baby, and the baby’s name kept changing between many of your names. Whoever was not the baby for the moment became her sister helping her care for the baby. It was all she was focused on in those moments. Eventually, she could not come up with the baby’s name, but it did not matter. She still wanted to care for it because it was all of you, and it was all Polly was worried about. It was her reason for still being here despite the fact that her body was quickly fading away.

Just as the bible taught and Polly demonstrated, there is a time to let go of treasures and find new ones. At the last, she traded her most precious treasures here in this life -- each of you -- for an even greater treasure: Jesus. She held on for quite a while, but with your permission, she made that last trade for the treasure who brings life that never ends and would fill her with love to share with everyone for eternity... the best treasure of all. I hope, in the midst of the pain and grief of letting her go, you were able to see her teach you about the most precious treasure here at the end of her race as we celebrate her life on earth and her new life in heaven with Jesus.

CTA

I hope you have learned that earthly treasures are just stuff to be used to bless the real treasures you are to each other. I pray that you learned to love each other well from her example and pass that legacy on to your family in memory of her. I pray most of all that you can see Jesus as that greatest treasure of all, the one who gave His life for us, His treasure.

Closing Prayer