Page 66 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2018 - Online Magazine

HONORING SENIORS
2 2

Senior Senior A

Peacock

Amid the

Crows

by Macy Tapp

Ms. Courtney taught me how to love piece of wisdom in reference to how GIRLS!” she proclaimed. Then she
hugs. Ms. Courtney’s hugs stand apart we should carry ourselves, but it soon shared with us the peace she had. We
from any others I have ever received. became our Sunday afternoon mantra. were just two seventeen-year-old girls,
People who know me know that hugs To be a peacock means we are clothed watching our mentor handle grief and
tend to make me uncomfortable, both in grace and confidence. Our loss with deep faith.
but something about the way Ms. beauty is not defined by our outward
Courtney throws her arms around my appearance but by the quality of our Ms. Courtney has never treated us as
neck, although I stand at least a foot hearts. We learned about true beauty students, but rather she relates to us as
taller than she, will forever be a safe and what it means to be a godly friends. We frequently find ourselves
memory. Even at ninety-one years woman. If we were to follow Ms. in her home, treated as one of her own
old, Ms. Courtney exudes vivacity Courtney’s example, we would be daughters. I would argue that Ms.
and brings life to others simply women of grace who never cease to Courtney has found the fountain of
through her presence. Ann Voskamp, learn. youth. Age is merely a number to her,
an esteemed author, wrote a book and she takes each day in stride. Yes,
about loving from a a place of broken- It has been a little over a year since the teeth have been lost in the process, but
heartedness. As I read The Broken Way, passing of Ms. Courtney’s best friend she said that soup was all the more
I found myself constantly reminded and beloved husband, Dick. I wept at tasteful. Yes, vision was compromised,
of the rich, true love of Ms. Courtney. the funeral, struggling to understand but that only meant that the love of
Voskamp writes, “Maybe the deepest the blunt reality of death in the life of the Lord could cloud her vision all
wounds birth [the] deepest wisdom.” this woman I loved. As we stood in the more. You see, Ms. Courtney
This could not be a more eloquent the pews of the church, I grew up a does not see people or the world as
way to describe the depth of love and bit; standing alongside Ms. Courtney, most people see others. Her home is
wisdom Ms. Courtney exudes. She has I joined in singing “In Christ Alone.” truly a revolving door, a reflection
lived a lot of life; the result is so much At the time, I found myself clinging of the people she has cultivated a life
love to share. to this hymn for Ms. Courtney’s sake. to serve. Those same people came
Now I realize that this has always alongside her with her husband’s
On most Sunday afternoons, since been her philosophy. She found her passing, sharing stories of triumph
we were Freshmen in high school, hope in Christ alone while on the and love shown to them from the
my dear friend, Abby Miller, and I mission field in Japan. She found her Courtneys. Together, the Courtneys
have met with Yvonne Courtney.. hope in Christ alone as she boldly rescued countless individuals from
Sometimes we eat salads and parented her children. And when the grips of death and the temptations
sometimes we talk about life, but her husband died, nothing changed. that would eventually lead to a
we always laugh. One of the first She still found her hope in Christ painful demise. Those celebrations
lessons Ms. Courtney taught us was alone. When Abby and I approached continue to bloom and have come to
that “the Lord did not just make Ms. Courtney after the funeral, fully carry her through the darker weeks,
crows, he made peacocks too.” Ms. expecting her to be weeping, we were when age seems to be winning or the
Courtney originally imparted this met with her faithful smile. “MY good memories of her husband grow

66 Lubbock Senior Link