My Grandmother

 

I am thinking a lot of my Grandmother.
We've had such great talks.
I miss her already.
Over the last year whenever I am home
I try to take a day with her
and we go over old photographs
and I write down who they are
and she tells me stories of her past.
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She is such a pure soul.
I marvel at her life and her heritage
that I have inherited.
One of her Grandfathers
was a real man of the Bible.
He read the Bible very often,
was what my Grandma called
a great scholar of the Bible,
was consulted by Elders in his church
(Protestants have elders and deacons, very
different than in Orthodoxy)
for advice 
and he taught Bible class for 40 years.
He was gentle, kind, never a harsh word spoken.
He would play with his Grandkids
and the stories of his love of the Bible
inspired me when I was a child
and my Grandma would tell me about her
Grandfather.
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My Grandma's Father was also a
real man of the Bible
and loved God very much.
My Grandma's parents were on the school board
for the first Christian school in Grand Rapids
and my Grandma's two sisters
went to Calvin College
and all of them through Christian education through
high school.
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My Grandma knew she was called to marry
my Grandfather and so she did
after one semester at Calvin.
She knew who she was and what was her calling.
It was different in those days
and she made a home for her husband,
my Grandpa and their children.
My Grandma and Grandpa served the church
all their lives and my Grandma
still teaches Bible study at her church,
which I think she has done for 40 years or so.
She has done evangelistic things for decades
and is always looking for ways she can serve God.
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My Grandfather had many struggles
especially with his health in later years
and I never saw him get bitter by it.
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My Grandma is adjusting to a quieter life
since she fell back in January.
She may never regain the strength and stamina
she had before.
We grow old, all of us.
I read recently in a book by Elder Paisos about needing
to grow so that when we are old,
we are a strong tree providing shade
 for those who are younger.
My Grandma prayers for all of us daily
and I pray she keeps her strength to see me married
(even though she most likely cannot come to my wedding
itself) and to do the reception in MI at Christmas time
at her community hall.
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I can't tell you how much I miss my Grandma and
wish for more time with her.
Her sister my Great Aunt is struggling as is one of my Uncles.
I put them all on the monastery prayer lists.
I am comforted to know that so many pray for her.
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One thing that continues to strike me is how
thankful to God she is for her life
and for being put in a godly Christian home
with such loving parents and
then a good husband and now
children who love and help her
in her old age.
It is people like her who
keep families together and
quietly serve God where they are placed
and live a life of service and thankfulness to God.
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I could not be more blessed by such a Grandmother.