Thursday, November 15, 2007

Good Bye Gran Gran


A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
(Ecc 7:1)


This morning, I received a call from my father. His message was that we have lost my grandmother. Gran Gran, as she was known by her grandchildren, stopped breathing this morning at 3:15 AM. She was truly a virtuous woman.

Gran Gran taught me to read when I was around three years old. I don’t remember a time when I couldn’t read, and I remember going to Kindergarten and reading the “note to parents” at the top of my worksheets. She furthered this love for reading by taking me, my brothers, and my sister to the library…regularly. We’d check out the maximum of 25 books each…so that between the four of us we’d tote 100 books back to her house, half of which we’d have already read or previewed before we got home.

Most everyone I know who loses someone they love reassures themselves that their loved one is “in a better place.” Unfortunately, often times this is not true. Indeed the scripture says that “wide is the gate that leads unto destruction, but narrow is the gate that leads to life, and few there be that find it.” I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gran Gran is one of those few who entered that narrow gate. She was a woman of prayer. She told us often of the power of prayer and let us know that she prayed regularly for all of us. She trusted in her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Gran Gran and Pepaw gave me my first “real” Bible with my name on it. I carried that Bible into the government school system and became a thorn in the flesh to the bureaucrats employed there.

Gran Gran left us a heritage of knowing God and living out what we say we believe. Her favorite book of the Bible was Proverbs. Chapter 31 describes her well.
Gran Gran, I miss you already. But we have a hope unlike that of the world. I will see you again at the feet of Jesus.

No comments: