The Most Important Thing…

I’ve been thinking about just how to write this post with out hurting anyone for awhile… A few months ago I was at my grandmother’s memorial service in California. Throughout the service family and close friends that knew my grandma while we lived in California stood and talked about her life.

She was a wonderful mother, she was always there, she helped me raise my kids, she was strong, she basically lived two lives one as a wife and a mother another as a widow, her door was always open, she treated my friends as one of the family, you walked in the door once and you weren’t a friend you were family, everyone loved her, she loved big band music, she was always there with a joke, or some sort of good natured prank, she had a larger than life sweet tooth (I still think we should have brought ice cream to the memorial), she was a lady… The pastor came to the microphone and said something about the word he kept hearing through out was “Love”.

Sure that was up there… but if they were trying to tell a stranger about her, the stranger wouldn’t know the best part because they all missed it. Maybe its because they live hundreds of miles away and didn’t get to see her often, What they all missed was, that she was an amazing Christian woman. She would spend time on her knees praying for each of her children and grandchildren by name, even when her hip caused her so much pain that she was crying, even when she had to ask everyone’s names because she couldn’t quite remember, That is how she would want to be remembered, as a Christian. Because that is who she was. She loved everyone like He loved her.

A pastor at a church we used to go told my mom once that every Sunday he looked for grandma because she always had the light of Christ on her. That is the best way I can think of to describe her. She was a Christian, pure and simple. Sure, she wasn’t perfect, but there is only one person I know that is. I still remember how I told her I wanted to go on a missions trip when I graduate and she asked if she could come with me. I graduate in about a year and half… I wish we could have done it together.

Recently I was reading a devotional called Not A Fan (great book by the way. They have a TeenStudent & Adult versions ). In the last Chapter it talked about a man named William Borden. After he passed away they found written in the back of his bible “No reserves. No retreat. No regrets.” I think those six words describe her pretty well. Ok so she didn’t make it big, she doesn’t have a monument to her, she didn’t end world hunger, or find the cure to cancer. But she did change peoples lives. she left everyone she met with a hug and a smile on their face.

The most important thing is… She was a great follower…