During the early '60s when my brother, two sisters, and I were all in school, my mother decided we needed a set of encyclopedias. And we needed them soon.

"After all," Mama emphasized, "Joyce is in junior high now. She'll need them to write reports."

She had faith. And it's a good thing, because what she didn't have was money. With our large family and meager budget, we had no discretionary income for reference books.

Since I was the oldest and would be the first to "write reports," Mama told me about her dream. She even showed me the shelf in the living room she had rearranged and dusted to make room for our wonderful new books. I had no doubt that soon we'd have a set of encyclopedias gleaming from that very shelf. Because I knew Mama. And I had faith in her faith. I knew she prayed about everything, even encyclopedias.

One afternoon, unexpectedly, the inevitable knock sounded on our front door. Mother and I stood face-to-face with a lady selling encyclopedias door-to-door. She just "happened" to be in our neighborhood.

"Come in," Mama said with a huge smile. "It just so happens I want to buy a set of encyclopedias."

Hardly believing this good fortune, the saleslady came right in and sat on the sofa next to Mama and me. (And next to the shelf Mama had cleared.)

SHOETIME
Before the presentation, Mama, in true Southern fashion, engaged the woman in polite conversation. During this initial chit-chat, Mama discovered she knew the lady's family, and soon they were talking like old friends.

Then it was down to business. Mama admired the handsome sample volumes, showing me each one. It was love at first sight for me, but I wondered how Mama could afford them.

Mother kindly explained to the lady that she wanted the set and that she could manage the monthly payments; but she did not have the down payment. The encyclopedia lady's smile faded a little at this news, and soon their conversation veered from books to shopping.

As they talked about the big sale at the local shoe store, Mama mentioned that she had impulsively bought a gorgeous pair of shoes, only to find they were painfully too tight. Purchases made during the sale were absolutely final, so she was stuck with the gorgeous little shoes.

Mama's story prompted the saleslady to reveal her own big sale saga. She told Mama how she had admired a certain pair of shoes for weeks. Each time she came to town, she checked the shoe store to see if the price had been reduced. Finally, when the big sale came, she went to buy them, but they were gone.

Mama urged the lady to describe the shoes she had yearned for. Then Mama excused herself from the room. She returned with a shoe box, which she placed beside the lady. "Are these the shoes you wanted?" Mama asked the lady.

"Yes!" the lady shouted, leaping from the sofa in joyful disbelief.

"See if they fit," Mama insisted as I stared in wonder.

The encyclopedia lady tried them on, and just like Cinderella's slippers, they were a perfect fit. The lady was ecstatic.

Seizing the moment, Mama quickly negotiated the sale, asking the lady if she would accept the shoes as a down payment for the encyclopedias. Still dancing around our living room in those shoes, she cried out, "Yes!"

Just two weeks later I was arranging our shiny new encyclopedias on the living room shelf. Through the years, those books have taught me a lot. But never as much as Mama did.

Copyright(c) 1996 by Christianity Today, Inc./Christian Reader magazine. For reprint information call 630-260-6200.