Joyful Journey

  My mom died in April (2003) and that first Mother's Day was especially difficult.  I knew it was going to be so, but then when they sang 2 songs that had been sung at Mom's funeral, I barely sang, with tears running down my face.  Grief, while it comes in waves, and many times surprises when it shows up, is definitely stronger in those first months.   I remember, even for years afterwards, picking up the phone to call her and then remembering she was in heaven and I couldn't reach her via phone.  In all my adult years, we lived far enough from one another that it was always a long distance phone call.  For those of you who are younger than 40, you have to understand that in those days you paid per minute for every call.  Often the local calls (same area code) were free, but if you called to a different area code it was expensive.  But graciously, Bob never complained about my hourly call with Mom and Dad each week, nor the occasional calls ...

 Her mom says that she processes things by writing and so she wrote a little essay about the death of her great-grandfather.  But that essay did so much more.  It blessed her grandmother as well.  As a child, she has no comprehension of how unusual is it is for a young child to know her great-grandparents.  I only truly knew one set of grandparents.  One grandfather died when my mom was a child. My mom's mom died when I was small.  Although I have a few memories of her, I can't really say that I knew that grandmother. But a great-grandparent? They are only names on a family tree. However, the oldest grands will remember their great-grandpa. So, as I read her essay, I thought of the blessing that it is to have not only parents who love and desire to raise their children in the things of the Lord, but also grandparents who love the Lord and try to encourage their grandchildren in that way, as well as great-grandparents who desire the same.   He...