DAY THREE

Florence Marais, 96 years old - Mother of 5,

Grandmother of 14,

Great Grandmother of 22,

Great Great Grandmother of 5!

I met this lady a few decades ago, back in a little town in a third world country.  She kind of became my “foster Grand-mother”.  She loved me, spoilt me and cared for me as much as any Grandmother would for her own Grand-children!   She made me feel as though her love for me was equal and as genuine as her love for her real Grand-children.   So you can imagine how weird what I am about to tell you is, to me.  (And, probably her!  J )

As I grew up, I left home, the country we lived in and travelled around the world, I never lost touch with her, but I did not really see her again.  We always kept in touch, mostly her writing to me…  every birthday and every Christmas with a letter thrown in for good measure every now and then, but I thought that that would be the extent of our relationship as we both moved forward in life.   I always cherished the memories, spoke fondly of her and enquired about her to anyone who knew her or had recently been in contact with her.    So you can imagine how strange it felt, to have come to this new country and completely by chance be living 5 blocks away from “Granny”, who immigrated here some 10 or so, years ago  - The sweet old gal who used to make me dresses and jerseys and do all the fun stuff that kids and grandparents do together!  Too weird, uh?

Well, today I went to go and look after Granny, as her daughter and son-in-law where away for a few hours.

As Florence can no longer see very well, I went over to make her lunch and to give her some company before she went for her afternoon “nap”.

As I began to make her lunch, I chatted away telling her what I was doing for this “Big Year” of mine and what my motivations were.  Instead of having a one off “party” for a few hours, I want to do something every month that I wouldn’t regularly do, or maybe haven’t ever done before;  Things that would stretch me mentally, physically, spiritually, socially etc.  She sat and nodded and every now and then would grunt a “hmmm”, to indicate that she was still listening.

I placed the sandwich I had just made, down in front of her and peeled her a banana for dessert, then poured out a drink for her and sat down to continue the conversation.   At the end of the explanation, I pulled out her letter and began to talk about that.

(A little background info for the reader)

What I have tried to do for each person  I have visited during this month, is write a short letter to be of some encouragement to them.  I have left each one with a verse that I hope will speak into their heart over the course of the days and weeks to come.  Along with the letter of encouragement, I have left a very small token gift and in doing this; I have hoped to deliver the “5 LOVE LANGUAGES” to each person:

1.       My time

2.       My service

3.       A gift

4.       A letter (with WORDS of encouragement and/or praise)

5.       A hug (physical touch)

So that whatever a person’s love language is, they feel valued and cared for and loved, once I have left and moreover, that they are left thinking about God and HIS love for them.

(Back to the story)

As I began to slowly read my letter to “Granny”, I heard a couple more “Hmmm’s”, but this time deeper, as though they were from her soul.  At the end I looked up to see eyes that had moistened.  What she said next took me clear by surprise and took my breath away. 

“You have done more for me in this last minute, than I did for you in your life-time.”

How could that even be possible?  I could never even begin to count the numerous things she did for me, numerous gifts she gave me, the amount of time she invested into me.

And yet, with that simple note, my debt, was cancelled.  I hadn’t gone in to look to cancel the debt, but the truth is, encouragement to someone who is in need of it at a moment in time, is more valuable than gold to them and in HER eyes, it cancelled every mighty act of goodness and kindness she had given to me.

We think that if a person is surrounded on a daily basis by family who love and care for them AND speak lovingly to them, that a person shouldn’t be in need of encouraging words from others. 

… But the truth is, no matter what we do in life, how long we live, how wonderful our life was and still is, we need to hear from other people too, that we have value.  That we are valuable to God and that when we pray to HIM, he DOES hear us and HE WILL answer us.

I now sit here opposite her, not seeing her as a generation long gone, a provider, a guider, an authority, on a pedestal – ‘holy’ out of my reach, but here, next to me, as my fellow human being, where I can respect her and can honour her and walk with her on her journey and shout for her to keep running her race, because she’s almost at the finish line, AND I WANT HER TO FINISH THE RACE STRONG!