100 years ago...
That's a big deal to me. I spent most of my years before knowing her, believing what my classmates had convinced me was true: my family only said they loved me, because they had to.
It took me decades to believe anyone could love me without God using them as a channel to love me. I believed only God could love me, people only thought they did because God made them care about me. Why? Because He is God and He can do the impossible--loving the most unlovable me.
But my Grandma Lady was different. She is one of the few people I couldn't dismiss her love for me as outside her choice. She went out of her way to get me involved at church. She stood up to my stepfather, when nobody else would. She inconvenienced herself to listen to me.for hours on the phone, and have me in her home. When she moved away, she gave me her personal 800 number (something I am not sure still exists), so that I could still call her anytime and not have to worry about my parents getting angry over a high long distance bill. She gave me the ability/opportunity to leave home when I truly had no way out.
I have no idea what my life would be today if she hadn't been willing to risk her peace and comfort to be actively involved in my life.
I want to have that kind of courage.
As Christians, we're quick to pray for someone, and then hope for the best. But how often are we willing to get our hands dirty and risk a broken heart, to help fellow believer make better life choices? She did that for me. I have been SO blessed to have had more people willing to be involved that just her, but she was the first.
She wasn't perfect, though I did have her on a pedestal for a time--that was a hard lesson. Praise the Lord, our friendship endured her fall from that "high place". She was my very best friend when she passed away. Her death was the hardest thing I have had to endure so far in my life. I still miss her and think of her everyday. I still want to call and talk to her when life has happened--good and bad things.
I wonder what she'd think of me 20 years later, back in CA, back at CBC, with a completely different name and 2 grown children headed to university. How would she have reacted when the things happened that lead me to leave Oregon? Would she still be proud of me (I have a birthday card with her writing that says she was proud of me...)? Would she be pleased with who my kids are becoming? Would she still be an interested participant in my life?
I don't know. But I hope so.
Trying to imagine what she would be like, today on her 100th birthday is near impossible. I mean she didn't want to be 80 so bad, she died 2 days after her birthday. 😏😁
So I think she be pretty disgusted at being 100! But I am certain her spunk, her smile and laugh would all still be as bright and beautiful as they ever were. Her joy was obvious, her love for the Lord was real.
She was my superhero. She was 5 inches shorter than me, but I always looked up to her! I did what I could to follow her example. And during the almost year that I lived with her, I learned all I could from cooking to cleaning to laundry and managing a house to serving the Lord and having a servant's heart. I didn't know how to do much, but everything I knew, she taught me.
A hundred years ago she was born, and her existence changed my life. I'm not sure she would have believed how much difference she made (she knows now, there are no mysteries in heaven). But one life. One person caring. Can make all the difference.
Be that person for someone. I try to be that someone for the people around me. Do it for the glory of God and for the honor of my Grandma K.
Happy Birthday my dearest friend! I will always love you. And you will always be my favorite grandma! My Grandma Lady. ♥️
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