Do you have a favorite coffee mug? Does it have a story? I have several, but today’s mug is my Starbucks Cyprus mug given to me by my good friend KayLyn. She used to live in Cyprus when she was a missionary to a Near Eastern country. Her mother and I got to travel together to go visit KayLyn on that beautiful island country in the Mediterranean. Several years later, KayLyn gave me my Cyprus mug because she knew I would enjoy it and the memories it would conjure up.

Some of those memories are of the many things KayLyn taught me about being a missionary. She is my “shero” for being willing to go live and work in the Middle East as a single Christian woman. Much of what I have learned about living and working cross-culturally I learned from KayLyn because I watched her live out her principles in some very difficult places. I believe I had such an easy transition living in Romania because of the things KayLyn helped me understand years before I ever went to live overseas. She wasn’t purposefully teaching me and I wasn’t intentionally her student. Yet within the context of our friendship and mutual encouragement, I learned things that I never would’ve picked up from a book. Thank you, KayLyn!

Which brings me to the biblical women I want to talk about this week: Lois and Eunice. Do you know who they were?

Lois was the grandmother and Eunice was the mother of Timothy, for whom two books in the New Testament are named. Timothy was a young pastor whom the Apostle Paul mentored. In the book of 2 Timothy, a letter written by Paul probably near the end of his life, we find the only reference to these two women and yet we can surmise quite a bit about them from this brief passage.

2 Timothy 1:5 in the Common English Bible reads: “I’m reminded of your authentic faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I’m sure that this faith is also inside you.”

We do not know if Lois was Eunice’s mother or mother-in-law, but we do know from another scripture (Acts 16:1) that Timothy’s father was Greek while Timothy was a Christian Jew, indicating that Eunice must have been Jewish and apparently both she and Lois had become Christians at some point. Later in 2 Timothy 3:14-15, Paul commends Timothy’s knowledge of scripture that he had been taught since childhood, pointing back to the teaching of Lois and Eunice.

We all learn things from the people closest to us. Sometimes those are lessons about good things and sometimes they are examples of bad things. We are blessed indeed if we can discern the difference and can shape our lives based on the good things we learn. The flip side of that is that we are all teaching the people closest to us. No matter our age or position in life, someone is always watching and learning from our example.

Lois and Eunice must have been proud of the man, pastor, and missionary Timothy grew to be. We can only imagine what some of the difficulties may have been in their household with a Jew married to a non-Jew. At best, Timothy’s father may have encouraged his wife’s religious upbringing of Timothy. Many families today struggle with varying religious traditions or even decisions based on faith vs. non-faith approaches to life. While we cannot decide for someone else what their understanding of faith should be, we can live our lives in such a way that demonstrates the love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness that God has shown us.

Lois and Eunice had no idea they were training a young Timothy to become a pastor and missionary. And neither do we know the future callings of the children and people within our circles of influence. We are simply called to be faithful to the task God has given us today to love people until they ask us why.

Question for the day: Can the people in your life–children, friends, adult family members–tell that you make decisions based on the scriptures? Have you imagined the far-reaching influence you may be having on the people closest to you?