Martha's plaque

In my last blog I mentioned that Sue and were due to attend a training day with the title "Growing Through Conflict." I don't want to write about the day itself, interesting though it was, but I do I want to mention something which I saw during the day.  We met in a Methodist Church in Leicestershire, and during a break in the sessions I had a wander round.  Something which took my attention was a plaque on the wall.  The plaque was to commemorate the life of one Martha Brown:

Of course, it is not at all unusual to find a memorial plaque on the wall of a church building.  It was not the plaque itself which took my attention, but rather the words which were used to describe Martha Brown's character:

‘In loving memory of Martha Brown, who was for 60 years, a faithful member of this church, and whose gentleness and kindliness won the affection of all.  She was a woman of strong faith, deep patience and earnest prayer, and a loyal friend, a faithful companion and affectionate mother.’

Even though plaques of this kind generally stress positive aspects of the person concerned, it certainly reads like Martha was a very special person, and someone who lived out her Christian life in an attractive and winsome manner.  Words and phrases such as faithful, gentleness, kindness, patience, earnest prayer and loyal friend suggest that she was a true disciple of Jesus, and a lady in whom the fruit of the Spirit could be clearly seen.  Martha died in November 1918, just a few days after the end of WWI.  

Clearly her life had a great impact on all those who knew her, not least her own family.  I have since discovered that Martha, described as an 'affectionate mother' and 'faithful companion', gave birth to seven children.  The plaque ends with the assertion that "To live in the hearts of those we leave behind, is not to die."  No doubt the memory of this woman called Martha Brown lived on long in the hearts of all who knew her.  Those people, too, are now long gone.  But those words on the plaque live on, still acting as a challenge to us today.

If they created a plaque for me or you, what words would be on there?