Rosia Walker
In a very small town, in the heart of Alabama, in the year 1909, God sent a little bundle of life and potential to John and Colevia Jeter, and they called that little bundle Rosia. That’s about as close to a rose as you can get. She lived a life with all the beauty of the flower that you can hear pronounced in her name. Rosia was a daughter, a sister, a mother, a wife, a grandmother, a great grandmother, a friend and a gift to the world from God above.
Rosia was the work of God’s creation, and as beautifully as God created her to be, she has returned to her Creator. She now stands before God, to give an account for the life that she lived, as we must all one day give an account. For all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
The Bible tells us, there is a time and a season for everything under the sun. A time to laugh and a time to cry, a time to hope and a time to give up, a time for joy and a time for pain, a time to be born and a time to die. The one experience that is common to us all is death. It is as common and as natural as all the other things done under the sun.
We all have a certain number of days to live and our joys and struggles are different. But in the end we all come to the place that is called death, and from that point we look back and see what happened during our lives. Who was this person that the world knew as Rosia Walker.
Well her kids gave these words to describe her. Sweetest, nicest, caring, gorgeous, strong, loveable, backbone of the family, wild, best cook in the neighborhood, great counselor, and generous.
Life was not always easy for Rosia. As a child she lost her eyesight for a period of time, but God restored her sight at age 12. As a child she had an opportunity that none of us can have today. She had the privilege of listening to her grandmother whom she greatly loved, admired and adored. Her grandmother had been a slave, and she gave Rosia a first hand account of what life had been like for a slave. Rosia could listen to her grandmother for hours on end as she shared the experiences of her life. It was probably in listening to her grandmother that she gained the wisdom to be a good listener and counselor later in life.
God grants us life for the purpose of becoming all that He intended for us to be. He gives us all unique talents, gifts and abilities to have an impact on the lives of others. One of the talents God gave to Rosia was the ability to cook. She took that gift and turned it into a way to express love to her family and to her community. Rosia was known throughout for those famous rolls that she could cook. The rolls have been known to melt in your mouth. She could fry apples and chickens in a way that brought a touch of heaven’s food down to earth.
Food played an important part in her life. It was while working around food that she met the love of her life. She was working in her Dad’s restaurant when in came a man by the name of Albert. Albert kept showing up to get coffee and to get food even when he was neither thirsty nor hungry. Albert confessed it was not the good food that kept bringing him back to the restaurant, but rather that good looking waitress. Albert would later tell his kids, the moment he saw Rosia working in the restaurant, he knew that she would one day be his wife.
I don’t know what he did to capture her heart, but capture it he did and they spent 43 years of marriage together. Together they built a small tribe with eight of their own children. But do not be deceived by the number eight. At one time there were almost 22 of them in the household with the grandkids and other family members. But even the number 22 does not tell the full extent of their love, because it does not include all the neighborhood children who were drawn into the family because of Rosia’s love. She truly had the gift of hospitality with an open door and an open heart. They may not have had a lot of money, but they were some of the richest people in Cleveland in terms of what really matters in a home.
Now do not confuse her love and gentleness with being a pushover. All you have to do is ask her kids about what type of disciplinarian she was. If she said you were on punishment for two weeks, she was a woman of her word. You got the full two weeks. If you tried to ask for a shortened term, you automatically got an extension. It paid to simply do your time and keep your mouth shut.
Now Rosia believed there was a time for being grounded but there was also a time for a whipping. But she was even nice about her whippings. She gave you the opportunity to go down and choose your own switch, and the only thing you had to do was to choose one that would not break. Now for some reason or another, Helen led the gang of eight in getting on punishment, but it was Frank who led the league in getting whippings. Frank will be the first to admit, he never got a whipping that he did not earn.
To this day, Frank claims that when he was born, he was very light skinned. But one day he got a whipping in which he wore out three switched. When he woke up the next day, the whipping had turned him dark. You see Frank would not lie to his Mom. If she asked if he had done something, he was going to admit he did it. Well she felt obligated to give him a whipping since he had deserved it. Frank said, one night he overheard his mom talking to his dad about the constant whippings he was getting.
She told her husband, Albert, “if that boy would just learn to lie a little bit, he wouldn’t keep getting all these whippings.” Rosia and Albert were united as one in dealing with their children. You could not pull one of those, I’ll go ask Dad if Mom said no. The first thing Dad wanted to know, was “well what did you mother say.” Albert always intervened on his wife’s side when the kids were getting a whipping. He would yell out, “stop beating my wife” even though she had the switch and was giving out the licks.
But the love Rosia demonstrated to her kids, made them know, she disciplined them because she loved them. Her disciplined was balanced with those special moments of popping popcorn and eating while watching TV. There were the memories of being able to share their problems with their mom and listening to her wise advice there on the porch. There were the joys of going shopping together . Rosia loved to shop and she enjoyed being with you shopping.
There were the many nights together at the dinner table when all the family sat together and ate family style. Every dinner was followed by one of Rosia’s desserts. She greatly loved her family. There was the privilege of seeing their father and their mother always leaving each other with a kiss whenever he left the house. Albert thought his wife was one of the greatest. He described her as a grand lady. There was also the memory of knowing their parents prayed together on their knees at night. They thank God for the hugs and kisses their mother freely showered them with through life.
As the kids grew into adults, they found their Mom to be someone in whom they could confide. They could come to her for advice. She shared her wisdom, but always let them know, the choices they were to take would have to be their own. They never had to worry hearing her say “I told you so.” They appreciated her unconditional love and accepta
The Scriptures tell us that there is a way that seems right to a person, but at the end of it is death. If we are all living in order that we might some day die, it should be of utmost important that we live in such way that in the end our lives would not have been lived in vain. Whether or not we have lived in vain will not be determined by how much we accumulated in terms of material goods, for naked we came into this world, and naked we go out.
The only thing that we can take out of this world is what we have given away. For that is how Jesus said to lay up treasures in heaven. Rosia has given of herself to many others. She was blessed with more days than others. Proverbs 31:25-31 gives us a summary of her life. It reads Proverbs 31:25-31 She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
26She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. 27She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. 28Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 29"Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all." 30Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 31Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
There is a time and a season for everything. However sometimes we are not wise enough to understand what time it is in life. Things that we are putting off to one day, should and need to be done today. For when it is time to die, there’s no asking for an extension because of something you have to do that’s really important
. Today is the day to be loving as Rosia was. Who is it that could use more of your love right in your own home? Today is the day to be compassionate as Rosia was. Who is it near you that could use some compassion and acceptance? , Today is the day to decide to make the most of the life that God has given to you as Rosia attempted to do.
It is not possible to become all that God wants you to become without becoming spiritually what God wants you to be. Have you checked yourself lately to see where your spirit is in relation to God and His word? Have you examined what is it God is calling you to do and to be? At some point in her life Rosia checked out the spiritual time clock.
Of all the decisions that she made in life, what she chose to do with the claims of Jesus Christ upon her life, is the one that is going to stick with her throughout all of eternity.
In our lives, the only decision that we can make today, that will still be affecting us in 500 years, is the decision we make as to following Jesus Christ. For the Bible tells us, there is no other name given by which we can be saved.
God has made each of us very unique. He made Rosia in His image and put somthing in her that none of us else has.
It’s tragic when we do not take the time to try and to discover the beauty that God puts in each of us, because we’re too busy with other things. Her absence has made this world just a little bit different. Things will never be again as they were for the Walker family. Opportunities that were once there, will never be there again.
Life is so strange and so short. That’s why we need to live and to love as though each day may be our last. You may say Rosia Walker was my sister or my mother or my friend or my grandmother, or my former co-worker and those things may be true. But the greater truth is that God gave Rosia on loan to us for just a little while, and through death God has called her back.
Death is so much closer to us than we think. How often have we narrowly escaped its grasp by unexpectedly stopping on the corner, only to have a car come zooming past out of nowhere, or being in a serious accident and walking away with minor injuries, or suffering a heart attack or stroke yet being close enough to medical help to be saved. No, God has watched over us more times than we will ever know.
There is appointed a day however, in which each of us shall surely die. The best way to die, is to have lived in anticipation of that day in which we will give an account to God. The Bible tells us that Jesus has gone forth to prepare a place for each of us in the afterlife.
Whether or not we make it to the place that Jesus has for us will not depend on whether our good deeds outweighed the bad ones. Everything depends on whether or not we invite Jesus Christ into our hearts to give Him control of our lives.
God has something wonderful for all of our lives. God lays before us two paths in life. One path is very broad and many people travel it, but it leads to destruction. The other path is very narrow but it leads to life. Jesus Christ is the gateway to the narrow path. To get on the narrow path, we must make a choice.
You see death is not something to be feared, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die but have everlasting life.
Jesus said, let not your hearts be troubled, you believe in God, Believe also in me. For I go to prepare a place for you. Not only has Christ gone to prepare a place for us, Jesus has revealed to us the road in which we should follow.
Rosia Walker has made her choice and her salvation rests totally in the hands and mercy of God. None of us know the day nor the hour when we shall leave this world. Christ has died on our behalf that we might have life. It’s a simple as confessing our sins, our yielding our lives to him. For in the end, the only decision that will matter is what did we do with Christ. For only what’s done for Christ will last for all eternity.
