Letter to my Grandchildren

Letter to my grandchildren

Dear Grandchildren,

What a year 2020 is turning out to be! I could say it’s been a really bad, horrible, terrible year and that would be true. On the other hand, there are good things, too. If we focus only on the bad and forget to thank God for our blessings we are not being following Paul’s example to “give thanks in all circumstances.”

“Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-20, NIV).”

Paul wasn’t in the middle of a pandemic like we are, but he was in chains and in prison. He was separated from friends, unjustly accused, treated unfairly—Paul had every reason to complain, but he didn’t. Instead of complaints, he praised God!

I am not as strong as Paul. I admit it. I am writing a letter to my grandchildren to admit; I am a wimp. I catch myself whining and complaining about trivial things.

I think back to my own grandmother and what she went through in the course of her life time. Her mother died during the Spanish flu pandemic when she was only a child, so she had no memories of her mother. Grandma Layne (as all her grandchildren affectionately called her) lived through the Great Depression and WW11. She cared for her invalid mother-in-law while raising 3 children and helping raise her grandchildren. She eventually had to bury her father, her husband and two of her children (one was my mother). Then five years later when we buried my father she mourned him and let me know that she had loved him like a son, which I knew because of the way she treated him.

If she complained I don’t remember it. What I do remember is that she seemed unflappable. She was always calm and patient. Always kind to others and always faithful to God. Yes, I saw her sad and I saw her cry but through everything life handed her she just kept putting one foot in front of another until she walked out of this life and into the next.

There is so much sadness and sorrow in the world right now that if we aren’t careful we can be overwhelmed. We can let dispair sink us quicker than a raft in a hurricane.

I refuse to give into the feeling of helplessness.

When your parents were little I would sing them a Veggie Tales song about God being bigger than the boogey-man. It’s true. He’s bigger and more powerful than a pandemic or any evil forces out there.

This may sound strange to you but times like these I miss my mother and grandmother the most. In your eyes I’m old and it may seem weird for an old person to miss their parents and grandparents, but you never stop missing the people you loved the most and the people who were your encouragers. What I wouldn’t give to hear, “It’s going to be okay,” or “Bless your heart,” from one of them. In a way, I still hear them because their words live on in my heart. That’s why I write you these letters. So that one day my words may live in your hearts.

I choose to focus on the good in life and that’s why from time to time I write a letter to my grandchildren. You and your parents, aunts and uncles, are the best and brightest lights in my life. I love seeing you play with your cousins and your laughter is the music that soothes my soul during life’s troubles.

Thank goodness God created children and grandchildren. You are my sunshine on a cloudy day!

Love each of you so,

Nana