“He being dead yet speaketh.” Hebrews 11:4
In all my years of growing up at home, my mother always sang in the choir of whatever church we were attending at the time.
Not only did my mother sing in the choir, she dominated the choir.
Glenna Sharon Yoho had the most beautiful and powerful soprano voice of anyone I’ve ever known or heard.
Choir directors loved her. Music lovers marveled at her gift. In fact, small church choirs were actually established and formed around her special talents.
Mom could hit high notes that were positively off the charts.
She was a remarkable singing talent.
And throughout the course of my life, I’ve never been a person who passed out undeserved praise to individuals in order to purchase somebody else’s favor or to win some praise for myself.
Therefore, if I’m telling you my mother was that good, you can certainly believe it.
Mom was that good!
Unfortunately, youth often manifests itself in the qualities of blindness and stupidity.
And the years of my youth weren’t all that much different from anybody else’s, which often resulted in my inability to fully appreciate the incomparable and matchless talent that resided inside the walls of our own home.
To me, my mother was just, well, Mom.
In fact, I never fully realized or accurately appreciated her talent until I was much older, until the years had robbed Mom of some of her power, until Mom could no longer sing, or until she had sadly passed from this earth.
I have no doubt that my mother once possessed the rare talent to sing professionally. She could have wowed the world on Broadway or certainly have made her mark in the opera. And to be quite honest, I think her mother would have preferred that as well.
But as much as my mother liked to sing, she loved the man who would become my father much, much more.
Any remaining notions of her becoming a professional singer were quickly forgotten when this young, Ohio waitress first met a young, West Virginia farm boy.
But throughout their many years of their marriage, she continued to employ those God-given talents in being a blessing to others.
I have never seen a more dynamic soloist, somebody with the power and talent to shake the rafters of a church.
Nobody who ever heard her sing ever forgot it. Many of them still talk about it today.
However, as good as people knew her voice might have been, the passing of the years tends to make you forget.
And I was reminded of that fact recently, when I had the good fortune to acquire an old cassette tape of her singing, “His Eyes Is On The Sparrow,” perhaps the one song that is most closely associated with her talents.
My mother passed from this earth in 2003. Her illnesses robbed her of the ability to sing a number of years before that.
Therefore, it had been almost twenty years since I last heard the woman sing.
But upon hearing this tape, I was once again reminded of Mom’s extraordinary talent. I also realized how much I missed this precious woman and the always-comforting and often-dazzling sound of her special voice.
Even though this tape was recorded after the years and illness snatched away a small portion of her power, my mother made any other rendition of this song somewhat inadequate.
And I do not have the space in this column to fully tell you about everything that was done by so many outstanding people to make this recording available. You will just have to trust my word that it was amazing.
In these days when technology has changed so much of our world, technology has also made it possible for those who fondly remember Glenna Yoho to savor her voice once again.
Those who’ve simply been told about Mom can finally realize the truth behind the praise. And with her rendition of this song being included in the playlist of a West Virginia Christian radio station and on YouTube, those who never knew the woman can finally be introduced to her extraordinary talents.
Perhaps best of all, it has allowed me to share my mother’s voice with my own grandchildren, two precious little ones who were cheated out of the great blessing of having known this wonderful and talented lady.
I find all these things pretty satisfying.
And I know that today, whenever mom is called upon to sing in Heaven, there is jealousy among the angels, beings that are angry because God gave such talent to a mere mortal.
If you’d care to, I hope you will check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ1vt1urvzc&feature=youtu.be
Due to the constraints of time, the sound of her voice is the only memory of my precious mother that I can share with you now. But I wish you all could have had the rare privilege to know this remarkable woman, because she was so very much more!
Image: Courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taylar/7464756664/
