Legacy of strength
With the holiday season staring me in the face, it is so easy to become overwhelmed by all of the "must do's" that seem to fling themselves at me on a daily basis.
It is at this point in the year that I find myself wondering how my grandparents pulled off so many successful holidays when I was growing up. They never seemed stressed out either. There were no tense moments around our house at Christmas time. No times that we could see Grandma crying on Grandpa's shoulder because she didn't know how she could afford to buy presents for all five of us children. Neither did I see Grandma rummaging through the cupboards frantically trying to calculate the cost for Thanksgiving Dinner.
Since Grandpa was the pastor of a small church, and Grandma usually didn't work, I wonder how they made all of the ends meet. It will probably be a mystery to me for as long I live.
Though I am not blessed with the same strength and wisdom that my grandparents maintained throughout my year's of youth, I must confess that the memories of them that have been instilled in my heart do keep me trudging through each day.
When I find myself at wit's end, thinking that there is nothing for which I can be thankful, I travel back in time to the happy days at my grandparent's house. There was magic in those days. I am not sure what made everything so peaceful and content, but my grandparents had a way of instilling strength and safety into our lives.
Time always has a way of changing things. Holidays have not been the same at my grandparent's house for the last several years because my Grandpa lost a very long battle with cancer and is no longer with us. I see now that he must have been the strength that carried my family through tough times throughout the years. Though he lost his battle to a deadly evil, my grandpa was stonger than anyone else that I have ever known. While he was ill, I never heard him doubt God's blessings for his life. I never heard him cry out, "Why me, Lord?" He never griped or complained about the injustices that were done to his body. He simply remained strong. He was constant right up to the day he walked into the emergency room on his own accord, never to walk back out again.
He was a true hero to me. This year, even if I don't have as much food on my table or as many presents under my tree as I would like, I will be thankful for the legacy that Grandpa left, not just to me, but also to my children. He taught me that there are much more important things in life than tangibles. Though I am not near as strong as he was while he walked among us, it is my hope to become more like him everyday.