grief ~ gathering ~ hope
In the next couple of days my family will be traveling to California to celebrate the life of my Grandma.
Some knew her as Lori…
Some knew her as Nora…
Some as mother…
others as friend.
I knew her as “Grandma”.
These last few weeks have been full of remembering…
dwelling on family…
and my mind stopping at moments of my life with her.
These memories are sweet glimpses of the past –
Going to the library with her to find a craft to complete together…
Memories of her teaching me how to sew a dress…
Or, recalling the day I was old enough to wear the Santa hat and pass out gifts from under the huge tree on Christmas morning…
Moments remembered of gathering…
Meeting up at the State Fair in the hot summer days…
Gathering together for holidays…
to celebrate Easter in Turlock…
For Father’s Day…
and every month of the year to celebrate the life of whoever in the family was born that month.
Memories of light houses and everything “blue”…
Memories of a woman who loved deeply… who always offered grace… and did so with such strength.
Grandma brought people together.
She brought her family together.
In the last couple of weeks I have found myself more intertwined with my family. Making new friends on Facebook… connecting with cousins… their wives… all those who knew my Grandma.
And this coming together…
Even on Facebook, this gathering has struck something deep in me.
How precious it has been to be able to share memories and stories across the miles as Grandma breathed her last days on this side of eternity.
Gathering.
As we share memories and traditions…
As we discover her hand written notes on things that were important to her…
things that she wanted passed on to future generations.
As I look at the many quilts she created with her own hands…
I find a deep gratitude… and an incredible hope.
I find a renewed desire to carry on her legacy and understand that it isn’t about these “things” she is passing on to me for me to one day pass to my children… and them to theirs; rather, her legacy is about coming together.
About remembering the moments that celebrating tradition bring.
As we celebrate the incredible beauty of her life and the depths of hope we have in grief…
As we rest easy knowing that she is in the loving arms of Jesus.
As we celebrate her life… we find our lives even more intertwined with each other and discover a deeper understanding of the depth of love our Savior has for us too.
Today we share memories of the past…
Yet, we look forward to the day when the sting of death will no longer be… and we can gather at the feet of our King celebrating LIFE with my precious grandma.
