Grandmother’s Legacy of Love
“Live the legacy you want to leave because legacy lives on in people and people live on after you are gone,” John C. Maxwell wrote. Oh, how true. Think about the legacy of grandmothers, just for one example.
When my youngsters were pre-teens my mother sold her business in another city and bought some small rental cottages on the harbor in the fishing village of Destin, Florida. My three children loved to visit her—some 450 miles from our home.
They could dive off her dock or swim across to Holiday Island or go with her to the nearby Gulf of Mexico for a romp in the waves. They collected seashells and cooked crabs and went fishing in the little pools all around her place.
She would sing with them, read to them, let them sit up late and study the stars. She’d even recite the “elocution” pieces she learned as a girl in high school–poetry and long essays she still remembered from the 1920s.
But it wasn’t all play. When work was involved, she made it fun, too, working alongside them. Over the years they learned how to book reservations for the cottages over the phone, how to rent them out and how to help her clean them after the guests checked out.
She taught my children safety rules, expected obedience when she spoke and rewarded them with privileges. Grandchildren were to be enjoyed and loved, she said. When they came back home they talked nonstop about their adventures and admitted they shared some special secrets with her.
As they grew older, they called her for prayer whenever they were facing a hard time –a dreaded exam in college, a financial set back, a broken relationship–and she would pray for them right then on the phone. Sometimes she even tucked a bit of money in a handwritten letter to them full of encouragement, cheering them on.
Often in her devotional times of prayer, she would raise her hands to heaven and say, “Lord, these ten fingers represent my ten grandchildren. Now I bring them before You and Your throne to pray for them.” And she would pray specifically for each one.
She died just a few weeks before our son graduated from FSU. As our family gathered on the lawn after his graduation ceremony, we glanced across the Tallahassee skyline–where mom once had a boarding house–and we began to remanence about her. “Oh, how I wish Mother Jewett could be with us here today,” our youngest said. 1
Yes, we missed her terribly–she who had bestowed so much love and prayers into her grandchildren and into all of us really. Leaving us all a rich legacy in memories.
Just the other day when Mom’s second great-great grandson was born, his uncle called asking me for a story about her to put in the scrapbook he was making for the newest in Mom’s extending family. What fun I had talking about her adventures.
I am sure you too have some happy memories of grandmothers you have known–who have enriched your life and taught you lessons you never forgot. May each of us determine to leave a lasting legacy to our children’s children, one that will continue for generations to come. A legacy of love, spiritual influence and prayer.
Prayer: Thank You, God, for grandmothers who bless so many lives as they invest time, love and prayers into the lives of their grandchildren. Amen.
Scripture: For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelled in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well (2 Timothy 1:5 NASB)
- Quin Sherrer, Grandma, I Need Your Prayers. Zondervan, p 61.Available on Amazon.
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