In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
I learned so much from my grandmother… and emulating her will be no small challenge! Of all the things she taught me, the most important were summed up in one of her favorite mantras… “The LORD will take care of me” …and He did. Was her life easy? Absolutely not! I can’t begin to tell you everything she saw and did in more than a century, but I know the LORD took care of her through the abandonment by her father at around age 12… the loss of her first baby, who died at birth…the loss of her older brother in a car accident when he was about 18…the death of her mother and all of her other siblings, her husband, her only living son, and her grandson, as well as countless friends and relatives… the loss of virtually all of her earthly belongings in a house fire when she was in her early 70s… numerous surgeries, illnesses and physical challenges – including a wreck when she was driving the school bus that left her with whiplash and put her in a cervical collar and traction for months. Still… the LORD took care of her through each of these things… and many more.
My grandmother grew up with virtually nothing, and for most of her adult life, she lived meagerly on the modest earnings she and my grandfather were able to produce from working more than one job and growing almost all of their own food (and selling the excess). Still, the LORD took care of her, and she faithfully presented a regular tithe to her church. When I took over managing her affairs, I marveled at how her dollars could stretch… and I made sure to make her tithe the first check I wrote each month!
Yes, the LORD took good care of her. And my grandmother quickly gave Him all the credit. When she met someone new, she would ask, “Can you stay for dinner (lunch) or supper?” …followed quickly by “Where do y’all go to church?” If the answer was not satisfactory, she would invite them to join her – at her table… and for services the following Sunday. Hers was a life rich in the things of the LORD… not necessarily material objects or monetary wealth. Her focus was firmly fixed on a heavenly home, where I know she is dancing and shouting today… and feasting at the LORD’s table. You see…He is still taking good care of her!
What about us? What is our focus? Which road are we traveling, and at what speed? Are we quick to serve the LORD… and to trust Him to take care of us? Do we depend upon Him even when things get rough… or tragedy strikes? Or do we fold up and turn to take another path? What is our ultimate focus… where are we headed?
I’ll be honest…the “glue” that held my family together - our matriarch - has gone to be with Jesus, and we’re all just a little lost. But I can already hear my grandmother saying, “Dry it up (the tears) and get up from there! You’ve got work to do and there’s no sense wasting time. The LORD will take care of you… you just need to let Him. Get on, now! They’s lots worse things than dying.” And she is right. So c’mon… we’ve got work to do… let’s work on this together and stay on the right path until the LORD calls us to heaven. I’m in… are you?
©2013 Debbie Robus
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