Wednesday, September 10, 2008

PS: More thoughts on Granny Mac!

Welcome to Wednesday where we wake up to find the aisles of the local supermarkets stuffed to overflowing with Halloween candy, on this, the 10th day of September 2008. Several read my tribute blog to Granny Mac and shared additional comments with me. One wanted to recall the fact that our Granny was renown for her cooking and perhaps one of the best who ever lived. (No doubt a biased comment, but to me, very believable.) I do remember seeing folks line up at her dishes at our local Church fellowships. She would stand beaming as folks passed over many other offerings to get some of her cornbread dressing and other delights. I also recall the disappointment on the faces of those who arrived just a tad late. I do know she could cook up a storm and when she put it on the table she would stand back, tired and sweaty from her labors over a hot stove, and watch her family eat and be pleased they enjoyed it so much. I reminded someone earlier this week about how she used to fry up those fresh pork cracklings that ruined my taste for store bought, forever!

A couple of my boys remembered the rides on her golf cart she used late in her life to run errands but mostly to travel the few blocks to the Church meeting place. The cart had a sign on it that read: Granny’s Bug. Her cousin, Bro. Roy Dowden, conducted her home going service and used that as his sermon title: Granny’s Bug. He spoke of her faithfulness and how often one would see her coming up that long hill with a whole mess of kids hanging on the cart. What a metaphor for her entire life! She was used to hanging around with a whole mess of kids beginning with her own, her grandchildren, and many of her great grandchildren. I often think about her and my grandfather in how they would have fit well in that list of heroes of faith as found in Hebrews Chapter 11. Was my Granny perfect? Of course not! But she most certainly left a testimony of commitment to her faith in her God.

One of the things I remember most about Granny was her laughter. She loved to laugh and sometimes it would nearly get the best of her. We have some old Super 8 film converted to VHS that shows her giggling away in her rocking chair. (Note to self: all those VHS tapes need to be put on DVD to preserve these most precious of memories!) If someone were to write down every life changing challenge she faced in her life, and I’m talking the stuff of legend here, they would wonder how a person could get through all that and still be able to smile, much less, laugh. That same Hebrews Chapter 11 tells us that genuine faith is defined as believing in God and His truths which speak of the substance of things hoped for, as evidenced by things not seen. My grandparents lived each today with a faith that girded itself in the reality of the unseen, unwavering absolutes as given by God in His word. It is little wonder all who knew her remembers her so dearly. Application? What will those we leave behind remember about you and I? Something to ponder as we sip our morning coffee and make ready to live out our faith as we pursue today’s opportunity to make a difference. Have a great day and may God bless. Amen. ......More later.

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