Stories from Long Ago

"I noticed in The Way, that the church was calling an associate pastor to visit," I said to my Granny. Granny replied, "Yes, I read that too. I suspect that was decided long before they brought him here." Granny asked, "How much longer have you got before you get home?" "I don't know," I said, "depends on the traffic". Granny said, "When I was a little girl we used to go to the church that was closest to our house, which was for us, Presbyterian. Long ago, we didn't go around looking for churches of the denomination you liked, we just went to the one nearest your house. I remember that I joined the church right after Bible School. I was a little girl. I remember standing in front of the church alongside a lot of other little children and giggling. I don't remember who was with me or nothing, only standing there and giggling. I was a Presbyterian until after I married your grandaddy. Right after we were first married, we decided we needed to join the church to make everything right. We went to the Baptist Church then. We decided that we were going to join the church when the preacher opened the invitation. And when he did, I went right down the aisle and accepted the invitation and joined the church. They baptized me in a pool behind the church." "A river or pond?" I asked. She said, "No, a concrete pool. One with concrete all around." Your grandaddy never joined that church. And I never spoke of that day to him ever. I never asked him why. I figured it was his business if he wanted to join the church or not. I didn't think it was right for me to ask why he didn't do it. He was 50 years old before he joined the church. He joined Westview Baptist and was baptized when he was 50 years old. I never told hardly anybody this story. I bet you didn't know this story did you?" I said, "No, Granny, I didn't know this story." She said, you're still learning from your Granny aren't you? That's a good thing, to still be learning from your Granny." "I know it is," I said. "I know it is."

Friends

Today was a long day.....one of those that started at 7:00 AM and then ended at 8:30 PM for both my husband and myself. I don't mind working long days, but it really helps when you work with great people. I sat around a big conference table today with seven very conscientious people. They worked diligently all day. They will come back and work again tomorrow, and we'll continue to work together on this project until we are finished.

Late this afternoon, I went back to my office to prepare for the second part of my day, when to my surprise, I found a beautiful metal piece of art work. When I first noticed it, I thought it was a plate rack. It was about the size of some of the plate racks in my house. When I lifted it up, I noticed that it was a word...."BLESSINGS". I was quite simply, awed. Awed that someone would see this and think, I'm going to buy this for someone, because she needs to have it. It's not my birthday. It's not even a special occasion. No matter how long the days are, it's pretty easy to keep on keeping on, when you know you have friends like this. Thank you, sweet friend for your thoughtfulness, you are truly one of my BLESSINGS!

Granny

My Granny's 93rd birthday was this week. She spends most of her day sitting in her chair watching TV. Sometimes she goes outside to get some fresh air. Sometimes she even blows off her driveway. Can you imagine a walking stick in one hand and an electric leaf blower in the other hand? She's very proud that she can do this. She does not like loosing her independence.

I try to call her almost every day. We talk about the things she's cooking. It makes me so hungry, I usually wind up cooking some of the same things she's described later in the week. Sometimes she tells me about things that my mom and dad are doing. When she tells me some family news that I don't already know about, it makes her so happy! She loves to be the one spreading news. She calls herself the news lady. Sometimes when I'm very busy, so busy that I don't have time to read the paper, I ask her to tell me what's going on in the world. It's so much fun to listen to her report the things that she thinks are important for me to know. Sometimes she tells me stories about things that happened long ago.

When I was a little girl I remember hanging onto her neck and sitting on her back, while she sewed. I remember sitting on the counter watching her cook. When I was very young, I remember her rocking me back and forth, back and forth, singing swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home.......and rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.....I remember her cooking scrambled eggs, hash browns, and toast over a campfire when she and grandaddy took me camping. I remember listening to records and dancing in her living room. I remember her taking me to watch wrestling. She and my grandaddy loved wrestling and they especially loved to watch it live. I have lots of special memories of my granny. But the most important one of all is that she loves, loves, loves family. Spending time with her family is THE most important thing to her in the world. I try to spend a little time with her each day, even if it's on the phone. I know she loves it.