Heritage

First of all I want to apologize for the serious blog posts.  I know it's not entirely like me, but I have to say that being here in Tennessee it comes natural to reflect.   My days here are mostly quiet, the house is out in the country with very little around it.  The woods are in the backyard.  It's peaceful.          I'm also spending time with my grandparents who I have been very close to my whole life.  They are getting older and I'm realizing how precious every moment is.  I've been putting in lots of mental book marks trying to remember faces, smiles, laughs and quotes.  So you'll have to bear with me if my posts seem dramatic, emotional, serious, or whatever.....  I've been in kinda a dramatic, emotional, serious (ok, not really that serious) kinda girl.  Love it or leave it people.... But please love it.

     I wanted to talk about heritage....not my dads church... Even though I love that place. (CAN I GET AN AMEN?!?). But the heritage that comes from family.   A few years back my family was here in Tennessee for thanksgiving.  We were having thanksgiving dinner and going around the table saying what we were thankful for and my cousin Doug said he was thankful for his heritage.  The words barely left his mouth before he had to choke back tears.  It was a noticeable mental book mark in my mind because it was obviously so meaningful to him.  A year or so later his mom (my aunt) mentioned the same thing, being thankful for her heritage at my grandparents 70th anniversary.   Our heritage.
 
    I've spent a few days with the centerpiece to my heritage.  Paul and Marge.  A few things have stuck out to me about these two.

   they love each other.  My parents are in love and I have been privileged enough to witness a true, whole hearted, Christ centered love my whole life.... But a couple that Met at 11, married at 18 and are still together 70 years later is a whole new ball game.  They are each others life.  They are best friends.  They are their family.  There is no one in this world that my grandpa loves more.  And same for grams, she loves, worries, trusts, honors, respects and cares for grandpa so much.

    Their bodies are older, their minds are tired at times, but their feet are always planted on that solid rock.  I try to pray with grams every night before she falls asleep.  Man I love praying near that woman.  She talks to The Lord like someone who has been doing it for 90 years.  Her prayers are beautiful.  They are humble, thankful, honest prayers.  She loves The Lord so much.  They play a piano cd every night that plays on repeat as they sleep.  Ill never hear songs like 'id rather have Jesus' or 'the lighthouse' again without thinking of them.

 

       I have spent a lot of time watching my grandpa today, he's not feeling his best today (pray for him?)and I can tell by looking at him that he is processing and thinking... There is a lot going on up in that mind of his.  My whole life I have been intimidated by him.  He is tall, with huge hands and feet.  He is a worker... Always building or fixing something.  He is stoic, quiet, hard to read (if you know my brother brandon, imagine that just bigger and older).  With that said he is also the most warm, sweet, awnery, sarcastic, loving and thankful man you'll ever meet.
      Even with their bodies hurting they are so grateful.  And even more importantly they are trusting. They are trusting The Lord with everything.  They are thankful for their blessings and at 90 years old still desire the lords will for their life.
 
     I gotta tell you that my prayer is to be like that.  To love god like that.  To not even think of an alternative way to live for one second other than fully trusting in the one that created me.

    I want to love and trust god like Paul and I want to love my husband one day like Margie.
 
  I can see my heritage when I look at them.  I'm a fire cracker sometimes like my grandma can sometimes be and  I'm a nurturer like her.  I move my feet when I'm still.... just like my grandpa.  I also can be stubborn like him.  All the things that make me who I am come from my parents and my mom came from them so they have a big role in the person I have become.  I'm proud to be theirs.  Apart of their family and story.

  And.......    I'm so proud of them.