In the summer of 1985 in Monroe, Louisiana, something changed. That something was the addition and opening of a mall named Pecanland Mall. This mall, built on the land of a former pecan orchard, became a one stop center for shopping and entertainment for the people of northeast Louisiana, as well as the surrounding ArkLaMiss. For many years, families would come to shop, let their kids ride the carousel in the food court, or catch a movie at the ten screen Cinemark movie theater located within the mall itself.
Yet, lately, if you were to ask the people of the area of Monroe and West Monroe, LA how the mall is today, they would give you a rather bleak description. Within recent years, the mall has become an area for crime, has lost its family-friendliness appeal, as well as many stores, due to the changing times.
I have not been to the Pecanland Mall enough to know its current state, since I have not lived in Louisiana for almost fifteen years now. All I remember of the mall is it being a place of fun, of joy, and of leisure. Yet, of all my memories connected to that place, today I am going to focus on one involving my MeMaw, Gloria Sanders Blackwell, and the lifelong lesson she taught me once oh so long ago.
Mrs. Gloria Sanders Blackwell, or “MeMaw,” as everyone in our family called her. was a very unique and special, Christlike lady. She never wore makeup, believing she did not need to alter or change the appearance her Lord had given her. She did not believe in credit cards, computers, or the Internet, though she did have a Mail Station, a keyboard machine which only served to send and receive emails. Since she did not have a credit card, she only used checks, change, and cash.
She also wasn’t a fan of movies, television shows, or that much of secular culture. Yet, because she knew I loved movies, she thus took me and my sister to a few movies at the mall.
One time, we got to the mall right when the previews for a movie, I believe it was Drumline, had just started. Even back then, I got tense about being late for a movie and missing the previews. My sister and I got out of the car, to start walking towards the mall, when our MeMaw said, “Hold on a minute, let me find my change.”
As soon as she said that, we whined and complained briefly for a moment. For we knew that when MeMaw wanted to find spare change, she had to find it in her rather cluttered center console of her Cadillac.
MeMaw’s center console was filled with peppermint candies, tissues, and receipts. We never knew how she knew what all was in there. Thinking of this, we said “MeMaw, we’re gonna be late for the movie!”
Yet, it wasn’t more than a minute or so before MeMaw found all the cash and change she needed to pay for us to watch a movie and eat some popcorn. Then, it wasn’t even two minutes before we got inside, got our popcorn, and saw the movie Drumline. While I remember loving the movie and our MeMaw saying repeatedly, “Are you sure your Mom would let you watch this,” I don’t recall a single preview.
It is no secret that the entire world is experiencing the widespread effects of Coronavirus. Whether or not you question its seriousness or origin, you cannot deny its power. Due to Coronavirus, the stock market is increasingly declining, while every aspect of our culture and economy is being affected as well. Concert tours are being canceled, Baby Yoda toy shipments are on hold, even production on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney + show is currently halted. This could even affect the schedule of the MCU films and TV shows of the next few years, leading Marvel fans to think worldwide, “If only I had all the Infinity Stones, I’d will Coronavirus out of existence.”
Right now, within the western world, people have stockpiled on toilet paper, soap, and hand sanitizer preparing for the worst. Every office, every school, every workspace, is filled with people each day, saying things like, “I hope I don’t get Coronavirus,” and “Is the world really about to end?”
With all the worry, with all the anxiety, our hearts and minds are overwhelmed. We don’t know how to stop worrying, to get through the day and make ends meet. We don’t how we’re even going to make it.
It is times like these, that I believe, we should have the faith and perspective that my MeMaw had. When our lives are a mess, when the world is oh so “Topsy-turvy,” we should pursue Jesus and let him lead us, through clutter and chaos, to find Him, believe in Him, and in turn find everything we need, right down to pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.
It is also in times like these, that the words of Jesus are even more powerful and true.
Matthew 6:25-34 NIV
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
All of this blog is coming from someone who is a believer, but also a lifelong worrier. So, I implore you, all of my fellow worriers, to keep searching for Jesus, keep following after Him, so we can know what He speaks of when He says, in Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
Thank you for reading. I love each and everyone of you.
Until Next Time,
Jacob McGowen
The Adventures of A Warrior 