A Pearl of Great Price

In the Bible, Jesus compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a pearl of great price. Through the years, this reference has been extrapolated to include anything of great value. I'd like to look today at a nondescript woman the world might have glossed over, but who, when seen through the eyes of the Kingdom, is truly a pearl of great price.

Benigna Escamilla was my great grandmother. I remember bits and pieces of her care for me in my early years--pulling weeds in the garden (which is why I absolutely love pulling weeds!), "helping" her with her wash on an old fashioned wringer washing machine (and getting my fingers caught in the rollers when I disobeyed her and dared to touch while she was busy hanging up the wash), walking to the corner store hand in hand with her (that was the going-to-the-mall of little ones in yesteryear), sitting in my little child-sized chair in the kitchen watching her hands flap, flap, flap back and forth making homemade corn tortillas from scratch, having her wash my bloodied feet with tears coursing down her cheeks when my disobedient self (am I seeing a pattern here?} walked on discarded boards from the bathroom renovation her daughter, my grandma, was having done, watching her make a little stool out of big juice cans and scraps of material, sitting on that stool and having her teach me how to crochet, sew, and make quilt squares. Once I started my academic career, time with Mamá Nina (our family's name for her) became something rare, but I treasure those early memories of time spent with her.

My mother, who held the distinction of being married, having her firstborn ten months after the fact, and being widowed all within one year, depended on her mother and grandmother (Mamá Nina) for childcare, hence the many days spent at my great-grandmother's side. On most mornings, Mamá Nina would do her daily cleaning, then sit and read the Bible with me (which is how I learned to read by the age of three--Mamá Nina would read slowly from one Bible while I followed along in another, word for word, with my finger). After the Bible reading, she would kneel and pray. I don't recall what I did while she prayed, but Auntie Trinie said that I had the uncomfortable habit of climbing up Mamá Nina's back as she prayed and using it as a slide. That is her recollection, mine is blank, but I'm sure it must be true. Great Grandma, however, trooper that she was, never complained.

Then, weather and time permitting, on many mornings Great Grandma would hold my hand, tuck her big Bible under her arm, and make the trek to a friend's or relative's house. After visiting, Grandma would ask if she could read the BIble. I know my own grandmother only had a fourth grade education. Great Grandma had come from Mexico and I have no idea her level of formal learning, but she did know how to read and she used it for her spiritual advancement and that of those whom she loved. This much I knew. What I did not know is the following.

Great Grandma had birthed two daughters (my grandmother, her firstborn, and Auntie Trinie, the baby) and her middle child, a boy, Jesus Villarreal, lovingly known as "Uncle Chey" (pronounced Chew-ee). Uncle Chey was married to Aunt Herlinda, a woman who was nothing less than the salt of the earth. In a recent visit with Aunt Herlinda's oldest daughter, my second cousin Esther Dávila, I learned something amazing about Mamá Nina's visiting. It was her visits, like those mentioned in the previous paragraph, that led my beloved Aunt Herlinda and her entire family to the Lord. Of course I knew that Great Grandma's visits had intrinsic spiritual worth--but to credit those visits with the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to a family that now numbers in double or triple digits--who would have imagined such a thing?! My jaw dropped in amazement at my cousin's revelation. This was a tangible result of Mamá Nina's "ordinary" visits! To think that the aunt whom I held in such high regard owed her spiritual rebirth to Great Grandma's simple ministrations! It stole my breath away--and still does!

To look at her, Great Grandma was nothing less that "ordinary." Her build resembled Aunt Bea's on The Andy Griffith Show, her clothes, hemline reaching to her ankles, presented an old-fashioned, rustic, and simple image. Auntie's conversion that had led my grandmother and Mamá Nina to the Lord had come about through the ministrations of a holiness movement. Without complaint or turning back, both my grandmother and great-grandmother willingly put jewelry to the side and from that day forth came unadorned before the Lord. So there was absolutely nothing "impressive" from a worldly point of view about Mamá Nina. Ah … but spiritually!

When we think of great people our mind immediately calls up well-known names, tele-evangelists, well-known missionaries. We never think of ordinary people as filling the bill, do we? Yet the Bible talks much about the value God puts on faithfulness. Moses was great in God's eyes because he was faithful in all his house (Hebrews 3:5). I truly think that when we get to Heaven we will be surprised to see the rewards awaiting "unknown" people … unknown-to-the-world-at-large saints who were nonetheless faithful to that which God called them. The works they did were not for financial gain or fame. They were done for love of the Lord and a sincere, childlike desire to obey Him and do whatever they could for Him.

I wish I had known to ask Great Grandma more about her early life. My aunt told me that Mamá Nina's husband, who died by falling off of and being dragged to death by his horse, had run with Pancho Villa. What stories ripe with history she must have had to tell! But sad as it is that that there is much of her story that will remain unknown to us this side of Heaven, the most important part we do know: she was faithful to share her faith in whichever way she could with family and friends. And that, dear friends, is the greatest legacy of all. That is what makes Great Grandma a pearl of great price.

The road to greatness is not to be found in riches or fame. The road to greatness in God's eyes is through faithfulness.

May the Lord help us all to follow in Mamá Nina's footsteps. May we all be counted as pearls of great price.