Thursday, May 17, 2007
A legacy of Faith
I can remember as a child wondering about death and grappling with the idea that some day life as I know it would cease to exist. As I grow older I become even less concerned about this life as I know it and cling to the promise God offers for the real life I am dieing to live. My grandmother passed from this life into life eternal just three weeks ago. It was the first loss of life I've experienced in my adult life. All of the cliches I've spoken over time to others rushed into my head and collasped with such a thud that I vowed to never utter one of them to anyone again. This is one of those points in my life where I am forced to make my faith in the All-Knowing God applicable because the penalty for not doing so is too great. I sat through the funeral services remembering what she meant to me. I even verbalized a few of my thoughts at the podium. How could I tell of her profound impact on my life in just a few brief moments. I didn't even know how to express the love she felt for her grandchildren with words. I couldn't describe the smell of collard greens and hot water cornbread that often filled her kitchen when I was a child. I wanted people to know how perfectly her rows of cabbage grew in her garden. I didn't seem to adequately communicate how she fixed every childhood wound with Campho-Phenique and prayer. Water was her medicine for every ailment. She believed that every health problem I experienced was because I wasn't drinking enough water. And now that I'm older I believe she's probably right. After returning home I sat with my thoughts and memories and was able to happily conclude that it is impossible to communicate what she meant to me. However, I can spend the rest of my life as an example of her love and faith. I'm saddened that my daughter will never taste her fried fruit pies or have her knees bandaged by granny's hands. I'm encouraged because just as my grandmother taught me that sometimes you are called to be a voice for the voiceless and that we are the greatest evangelist our families will ever know, I will in turn teach Summer and her legacy will live on.
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2 comments:
Hi Yolanda
In reading your blogs, I hear a lot of fear you have in side of what might happen in the process of raising your daughter. (WOW) Who new I would have to share this with you. While reading the Word this morning I came across this vs in Jer.31. I wanted to say read certain vs's but I encourge you to read 1-17 and get that in your spirit. God wants you to enjoy being His servant and enjoy giving your daughter all the Love you have in your heart to give her as she grows up and prospers into a healthy young lady. That is your way of serving your daughter and Faithful to God, Trusting Him. God says Fear thou not in Isa. 41:10
Not raising your daughter in fear. And Yolanda no I don't have children and I never thought I would here myself saying Thank God I don't for the very reason of raising my children in fear. Isa. 54:1 But I know what it is to live each and every moment in fear. So much that even when I went to sleep I dreamed of being in fear. Fear was my breakfast lunch, snack and dinner. But with God and the Word of God to meditate on daily and to remember Prov 3: 5-6 it helps me alot. Maybe Pastor can do a study on fear and share with the congragation to help others dealing with living with fear. Some people even have a fear of sharing there fears. Thank God you were strong enough to put your fears out there on your blog. I guess it's all about trusting God with the unknown of our lives. Giving it to him and leave it there. Heb 11:6 So easy to hold on to these vs's when all is well, but in the fire your mind becomes a blank. Matt 3:20-21. Yolanda again thank you. May God continue to bless you and your family
Having just experienced the death of my father everything that happens during those few days of laying that loved one to rest seem so surreal. You are walking through want seems impossible to have happened. The cool thing is that death has no sting when you are in Christ.
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