Recently our family held a family get together. It is exciting to be with your children and grandchildren and receive those impromptu hugs and kisses.
After dinner my daughter in law brought out our favorite dessert, chocolate cake. She used her grandmother’s famous receipt and it was wonderful. Many at the table questioned if it was indeed the same since it wasn’t tilting. I guess in those days her oven was on an uneven floor so cakes came out leaning to one side.
It was like my mother cooking the first ham early in her marriage and cutting off each end before placing it in the pan. When questioned by my Dad she explained it is what her mother always did. It was finally revealed her mother cut the ends because her pan was not large enough. So much for my family culinary history.
Grandmothers are special and precious. They are filled with unbridled love, have hearts as large as the universe and the uncanny ability to overlook our imperfections. We can do no wrong! And what are we instructed to do in return?
Read what Paul writes to the young pastor,
“But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 1Timothy 5:4
I remember how we cared for and encouraged my Mom, first in her home, then in a retirement community and finally in a skilled nursing facility. She reached the age of 93 and it got more difficult each year as she was entering the various stages of dementia. There were times she didn’t know who we were but that was alright. We would read to her, play her favorite music and run many unnecessary errands. Weather permitting we would take her outside so she could hear the birds and smell the freshness in the air. Above all we would just shower her with love.
But nothing could compare to the visits by her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Her face would light up and her blue eyes would sparkle as they sat at her feet while, and on her good days, she would tell story after remarkable story to the innocent listeners.
These are the moments a son cherishes. They add to my precious recollections, my valued reflections and my testimony as a spokesman for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Listen to these gentle words from the Book of Proverbs,
“For I too was a son to my father, still tender, and cherished by my mother.” Proverbs 4:3
Oh, how I miss her.
Manna and Coffee 